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siW'Cm 

TENNIAL 

CELEBRATION 

or THE 
INCORPORATION 

OF THE TOWN OF 

1 



MAR. 14 1850 

UNE 17-18 

00 











CLINTON: 

Printed by W. J. Coulter, . . . Item office, 

1900 



f) 



en 



^ 



INTRODUCTION. 

WHILE the celebration of the Semi-Centennial had often been suggested in conver 
sation, in public speeches and through the press, the first definite action tending 
in this direction was taken in the Clinton Historical Society, September iS, 1899, when it 
was voted, on the motion of Andrew E. Ford, "that the chairman, Christopher C. Stone, 
be instructed to bring before the town the question of the desirabilit)' of celebrating the 
fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the Town of Clinton." 

In consequence of this vote, in a warrant for a town meeting held November 18, 1899, 
an article appeared: "To see if the Town will take any action in regard to a celebration 
of the fiftieth anniversary of its incorporation, or make an appropriation of five hundred 
dollars therefor, or for publication of an account of the proceedings of such celebration, 
or act in any manner relating thereto." Under this article it was voted, on the motion of 
Christopher C. Stone, "that the chairmen of the town boards elected by ballot be chosen 
as a committee to decide whether or not the town" should carry out the provisions of 
this article, and report at the next town meeting. 

At a town meeting held December 29, 1899, this committee reported, recommending 
"holding a Semi-Centennial celebration on June 14, 1900, and to ask the town to appro- 
priate not more than five thousand dollars for that purpose." This committee also recom- 
mended that " a General Committee" be appointed " in charge of the celebration," and that 
"the present committee be discharged." It was voted on the motion of Charles E.Shaw 
that the report of the "Committee on Semi-Centennial celebration be accepted and placed 
on file, and that the committee be discharged." It was voted on the motion of Patrick F. 
Cannon, "that the town celebrate its Semi-Centennial, and that the matter of date be left 
with a committee of twenty-five to be appointed by the chair" (David I. Walsh). It was 
voted on the motion of Patrick F. Cannon, "that the Town raise and appropriate the sum 
of four thousand dollars to carry out the recommendations of the Semi-Centennial Cele- 
bration Committee." 

David I. Walsh, in submitting the committee of twenty-five to the town clerk for 
record, wrote: " I have given the matter considerable thought, for it seemed to me that 
the committee should not only be composed of citizens ready and willing to undertake 
the work that this event will necessarily entail, but that it should be also a committee 
representing Clinton's varied interests in its political, social and industrial life." 

The names of this general committee will be found on a following page. The only 
change made therein arose from the resignation of Harry B. Merchant, whose place was 
filled by the election, in the committee, of David I. Walsh to fill the vacancy. 

It was voted in a town-meeting held April 7, 1900, on the motion of Christopher C. 
Stone, "that the town raise and appropriate the sum of fifteen hundred dollars to be 
expended by the Semi-Centennial Committee of Twenty-five for the publication of an 
account of proceedings of the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation 
of the town, and that all moneys derived from the sale of the said account be refunded 
to the town treasury." 



Introduction. 

The first meeting of the General Committee of Twenty-five was held February 8, 
•1900, in the ofifice of the town treasurer. The committee was organized as stated on 
page 7, and a sub-committee was appointed to outline a program and report at the next 
meeting. 

At a second meeting of the General Committee, held February 13, the program com- 
mittee reported a provisional program and recommended certain sub-committees to be 
appointed by the six officers of the General Committee for carrying out the plans embod- 
ied therein. This provisional program, after "a few amendments had been offered and 
accepted," "was accepted and adopted by a unanimous vote." As afterwards modified 
by the General Committee and developed by the sub-committees, it became the final 
program which follows. 

In as much as the result of the total work of the General Committee and the various 
sub-committees is to be found in the program, the report of the treasurer and the descrip- 
tion of the celebration, it seems hardly necessary to relate the steps by which this result 
was reached. Those who have had experience in arranging such celebrations and known 
the vast amount of labor involved in awakening enthusiasm, in harmonizing conflicting 
ideas, in coordinating the departments and in perfecting the endless variety of details, 
realize something of the work which must have been done to bring the celebration to 
such a successful issue. Only by the most hearty cooperation of many citizens whose 
names do not appear on any of the committees could this result have been reached, how- 
ever great the work of the committee may have been. The celebration as a whole, then, 
while under the direction of the General Committee and the sub-committees, must be 
regarded as the universal expression of a communitx' proud of the past, full of local patri- 
otism in the present and confident of the future. 

This memorial volume was prepared under the direction of the committee appointed 
for that purpose. The editorial work has been done by Andrew E. Ford, who is also 
responsible for all reading matter not otherwise signed. Obligation is hereby acknowl- 
edged to the newspaper articles upon the Semi-Centennial and the reports of the record- 
ing secretary af the General Committee. Many of the photographs from which the half- 
tones have been made have been furnished without charge. David Dias, Louis G. Beck, 
George F. Marlowe, Horace A. Thissell, George W. Weeks, Miss Katherine B. Ballou 
and Thomas Sidey deserve especial mention in this connection. James E. Harvey has 
been the official photographer of the volume. 



FINANCIAL REPORT. 

THE committee appointed in accordance with the vote of the town, December 29, 
1899, to have charge of the Semi-Centennial celebration of the incorporation of the 
town of Clinton, beg leave to make the following report. 

The committee have held seventeen meetings, exclusive of the meetings of the various 
sub-committees which were appointed at the earlier meetings of the General Committee. 
The General Committee feel that the complete success of the celebration is due in a large 
measure to the cordial cooperation on the part of the various sub-committees, and we 
wish to express our thanks for their labors and for the interest they have taken in making 
this historical event something to look back upon with satisfaction. 

The town appropriated the sum of four thousand dollars, and the committee realiz- 
ing in its earlier meetings that there would necessaril)- be some expenditures for features 
which would not, and could not be free to the general public, and which, therefore, should 
not be charged to the town appropriation, proceeded to raise an outside fund by subscrip- 
tion, to cover these expenses. More than enough was raised to meet these bills, and the 
balance was added to the town appropriation, and the general public got the benefit of it. 

The financial statement is appended: — 

Town appropriation 84,000 00 

Raised by subscription 306 85 

84,306 85 
Expended by Committee on Fire-works, Decorations, and Salutes. . 81,277 96 

Parade Committee 892 75 

Athletic Committee 224 10 

Musical, Literary, and Historical Committee 344 28 

Committee on Schools 299 70 

Commiitee on Marking Historical Spots 138 89 

Committee on Printing 166 71 

Committee on Bureau of Information, Registration, 

Press, and Advertising 174 26 

Committee on Reviewing Stand 148 00 

Committee on Banquet, for Lunch to the Governor 

and Invited Guests 264 95 

Committee on Badges 227 00 

Committee on Invitations §4 95 

Extra Police Protection 60 00 

Miscellaneous expenses 3 27 

84,306 82 

Balance 03 

CHARLES E. SHAW, Treasurer. 



•TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Introduction. ------------ 1-2 

Financial Report. .--..----.- 3 

Table of Contents. ----------- 4 

Illustrations. ------------ 5-6 

Program. ------------- 7-21 

1850, March 14, 1900 — Semi-Centennial Ball. 22 

The Work of Committee on Invitations. .--.-- 23-26 

Decorations. ------------ 26 

Bureau of Information, Registration and Press. ----- 27 

Sunday Observances. ----------- 28-74 

St. John's Catholic Church, 28; Church of the Good Shepherd, 33; Methodist 
Episcopal Church, 37; First Baptist Church, 42: German Church, 49; First Congre- 
gational Church, 52; Advent Christian Church, 56; First Unitarian Church, 60; 
United Presbyterian Church, 6g. 

School Exercises. -----.--... 75-92 

History of Schools, 75; Graduating Exercises, 82; Address of Hon. Henry S. 

Nourse at Lancaster Cemetery, 83; Dedication of Memorial Tablets, 85; Address, 

Judge Christopher C. Stone, 85; Address, Dr. Clarence H. Bowers, 87; Address by 

Gen. John W. Kimball, 89; Address, Hon. John W. Corcoran, 8g; Parade and 

Lunch, 91. 
Historic Loan Exhibition. ---------- 93-100 

The Banquet. ------------ 101-126 

Speeches; Christopher C. Stone, 103; Alfred A. Burditt, 105; Henry C.Greeley, 

105; Augustus F. Howell, 107; John W. Corcoran, iii; Charles H. Richardson, 113; 

Warren Goodale, 114; WeUington E. Parkhurst, 115: Frank E. Holman, 116; 

Andrew E. Ford, 117; Rev. Edward J. Fitzgerald, 120; C. Frank Fairbanks, Jr., 122; 

David L Walsh, 123; Daniel B. Ingalls, 124. 

Historical, Literary and Musical Exercises. ----- 127-156 

Introductory address, Wellington E. Parkhurst, 127; Historical address, Hon. 

John W. Corcoran, 128; Remarks, Charles T. Tatman, 138; Poem, Andrew E. Ford, 

139; Oration, Hon. Merrill E.Gates, 144; Ode, Ellen K. Stevens, 156. 
The Parade. -_-._-.----- 157-172 

The Athletic Sports. ---------- 173-174 

Fireworks. ------------- 175 

Closing Reflections. ---------- 176 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



OPPOSITE 
PAGE 



// 



y 



I. General Committee. Part I. — Marshal. ----- 
II. " " Part II. ------ - 

III. Town Hall, with Decorations. ------- 

IV. St. John's Catholic Church. ------- 

V. Church of The Good Shepherd. ------- 

VI. Methodist Church and Parsonage. - . - _ _ 

VII. First Baptist Church. --------- 

VIII. The Clinton Hospital — The German Village. - - - - 

IX. First Congregationalist Church. ------ 

X. First Unitarian Church. -------- 62 

XI. German Church — United Presbyterian Church. - - - 

XII. High School Buildings, 1854, 1885. ------ 

XIII. Flagg Street School — New Grammar School. 

XIV. House of John Prescott V. — Grave of John Prescott, the 

Pioneer. .-.---,--- 

XV. The Clinton Worsted Company Mill. ----- 

XVI. Loan Exhibition and School Parade. ----- 

XVII. Early Professional Men of Clinton. ----- 94 -^ 

XVIII. Wood Engraving, Emory Harris House, (on) - - - - gg 

XIX. Portraits of Sidney Harris and Edwin A. Harris — Harris 

Homestead. ---------- gg 

XX. Wood Engraving, Poignand House, (on) - - - - - 99- 

XXI. Portraits of Samuel Plant and David Poignand. - - - 100 

XXII. Residences of Horatio N. Bigelow and Joseph B. Parker. - 104 

XXIII. Portraits of Franklin Forbes and George W. Weeks — Lan- 

caster Mills. - - - - - - - - - 112 ■ 

XXIV. The Corners of High and Church Streets. - - - - 114 

5 



XXV. 

XXVI. 

XXVII. 

XXVIII. 

XXIX. 

XXX. 

XXXI. 

XXXII. 

XXXIII. 

XXXIV. 

XXXV. 

XXXVI. 

XXXVII. 

XXXVIII. 

XXXIX. 

XL. 

XLI. 

XLII. 
XLIII. 
XLIV. 

XLV. 
XLVI, 



Illustrations. 
Clinton Homes. ---------- 

Clinton Wire Cloth Mills, 1890, 1900. ----- 

Contour Map of Clinton, (on) ------- 

Map of Southern Portion of Lancaster, 1795, (on) 

1830, (on) 
Map of Clinton, 1857. -.- 

Portraits of Horatio Nelson Bigelow and Erastus Brigham 
Bigelow — Town Hall. - - 

Along the River. ----- 

"The Vale where flowed the Nashaway." - - - . 

Views from Franklin and Central Parks. - - - - 

Bigelow Carpet Company Spinning and Weaving Mills. - 

Minor Industries. - - - - _ 

Estates of Charles Swinscoe and John R. Foster. - 

Along the River. - --. 

The Head of the Parade. -------- 

Company K, Ninth Regiment, off to the War — At Camp 
Dewey. ----------- 

The Central Fire Station — Armory — Building of Water 
Department. ---------- 

Lower Lynde's Reservoir — Woodlawn Cemetery. - - - 

Shaded Streets. ---------- 

Views in Central Park. -------- 

Glimpses of the Parade. -------- 

Clinton-Lancaster Driving Park — The Winning Team. - 



16 


/ 


22 




29 


/ 


31 


J 


33 
34 




36 


J 


39 




40 


V 



44' 
46 

SO 



i 



54 



58 

62 

64 
66 
68 
70 
74 



/ 




GENERAL COMMITTEE PART 

Christopher C. Stone, Chairman. 

John W. Corcoiaii, C. Frank Fairbanks, Jr. 

Charles H. Richardson. Dr. Phillip T. O'Brien. Charles B. Bio.e'ow. 

S. l\-es Wallace. Da\iJ I. Walsh. Walter F. Howard. Warren Goodale. 

Andrew E. Ford. George S. Gibson, Marshall. John W. McNamara. 




(s^^&t^ani^ation of CommittuB*-^^^ 



&tntv(xl Committee. 

Christopher C. Stone, Chairman. 

Eli Forbes, ------- Vice- Chairman. 

Walter F. Howard, ----- Vice-Chairman. 

Dr. John F. Worcester, ----- Corresponding Secretary. 

William G. McGlinchey, . - - - Recording Secretary. 

Charles E. Shaw, Treasurer. 

John W. Corcoran. S. Ives Wallace. Patrick F. Cannon. 

Dr. Philip T. O'Brien. C. Frank Fairbanks, Jr. Wellington E. Parkhurst. 

Dr. Clarence H. Bowers. William Rodger. Warren Goodale. 

Lynn W. Wilson. John W. McNamara. Austin E. O'Toole. 

Herman Dietzman. William H. Whitelaw. Charles B. Bigelow. 

Charles H. Richardson. Andrew E. Ford. Edward L. Plummer. 

David I. Walsh. 

^u6*Committee0. 

Committee on Finance. 

Dr. John F. Worcester, Chairman. C. Frank Fairbanks, Jr., Secretary. 

Charles H. Richardson. Edward W. Burdett. Charles Swinscoe. 

Henry N. Bigelow. Lucius Field. William H. Gibbs. 

Eben S. Fuller. George W. Morse. George P. Taylor. 

Committee on Musical, I/iterary and Historical Mxercises. 

Wellington E. Parkhurst, Chairmati. Andrew E. Ford, Secretary. 

Eli Forbes. John W. McNamara. David I. Walsh. 

7 



Committee on Invitations. 



Dr. Clarence H. Bowers, Chairman. 

Alfred A. Burditt. 
Joshua Thissell. 
Herman Dietzman. 



Edmond A. Evans 
Joseph E. Harrity. 
Louis G. Beck. 
Charles L. Stevens. 



Dr. George M. Morse. 
Charles H. Chace. 
Martin Murphy 1st. 
Dr. Charles L. French. 
Charles Bowman. 
Horace A. Thissell. 



Albert E. Jewett, Secretary. 

Rev. Charles M. Bowers. 
Gottlob W. Beck. 
John Larkin. 
Jonathan Smith. 
Frank P. Sawyer. 
George Krauss. 



Committee on Printing and Badges. 

Patrick F. Cannon, Chairman. Edward F. Hall, Secretary. 

Luther F. Whitney. Fred G. Jerauld. Joseph F. Bartlett. 



William L. Hubbard. 



M. Arthur Murphy. 



John H. Tracy. 



Committee on Memorial Volume. 

Andrew E. Ford, Chairman. Ellen K. Stevens, Secretary. 

Dr. Daniel B. Ingalls. George W. Weeks. Mrs. James C. Duncan. 

David L Walsh. John W. McNamara. Warren Goodale. 

Committee on Athletic and Field Sports. 

William G. McGlinchey, Chairman. Dr. Minot V. Bastian, Secretary 

Anton Schlickman. PatriK;k H. Fadgen. Asa S. Windle. 

Daniel J. O'Grady. John C. McGeachey. John G. Rodger. 

Fred Baer. C. Frank Leighton. 



Dennis K. BartJett. 



Committee on Military, Civic and Trades Parade. 

S. Ives Wallace, Chairman. Frank E. Howard, Secretary. 



Warren Goodale. 
Charles Frazer. 
John Rodger, Jr. 
Patrick H. Morrison. 
E. Everett Thompson. 



Dr. John F. Worcester. 
William A. Fuller. 
George S. Gibson. 
Walter F. Page. 
Albert E. Leighton. 



Capt. Peter J. Cannon. 
Charles H. Shedd. 
Herman J. Brockelman. 
Otto Schmidt. 
Fred W. Lange. 



Committee on Fireworks, Decorations, and Salutes. 

C. Frank Fairbanks, Jr., Chairman. Edward L. Plummer, Secretary. 

Lynn W. Wilson. Edward C. Osgood. Lieut. Martin J. Healey. 

Harry B. Merchant. William Hamilton. 

Committee on Ball. 

Warren Goodale, Chairman. Patrick F. Cannon, Secretary. 

Walter F. Howard, Treasurer. 

Charles W. Field. Eli Forbes. 

Patrick H. Mclntyre. Samuel Putnam, 

Orra L. Stone. Samuel W. Tyler. 

Thomas L. Walsh. , William H. Whitelaw, 

8 



C. Frank Fairbanks, Jr 
Frank E. Howard. 
William Rodger. 
S. Ives Wallace. 




GENERAL COMMITTE. PART 11. 

Eli Fdi'bes. Dr. John P. Worcester. 

Charles E. Shaw . William G. McGliiichey. Dr. Clarence H. Bowers. 

Welliniitoii E. Parkhurst. Patrick F. Cannon. 

William Rodger. Herman Dietzman. Lynn W. Wilson. 

EJwarJ L. Plunimer. William H. Whitelaw. Austin E. O'Toole. 



Committee on School Exercises. 

Dr. Philip T. O'Brien, Chairman. Nellie Kent, Secretary. 

Charles L. Hunt. Andrew E. Ford. Rev. Edward J. Fitzgerald. 

Abbie E. Dame. Isabelle A. Holland. Hannah M. Walsh. 

Committee on Banquet. 

C. Frank Fairbanks, Jr., Chairman. Harry B. Merchant, Sec7-ctary. 
Eli Forbes. Warren Goodale. Dr. Clarence H. Bowers. 

Herman Dietzman. David I. Walsh. George W. Morse. 

Wellington E. Parkhurst. Charles W. Field. 

Committee on Program. 

Andrew E. Ford, Chairman. Wellington E. Parkhurst, Secretary. 

Dr. John F. Worcester. Warren Goodale. Patrick F. Cannon. 

Committee on Transportation. 

S. Ives Wallace, Chairman. Frank W. Pope. Secretary. 

Willard C. Carter. Willam H. Whitelaw. 

Committee on Reception of Governor and Staff. 

Wellington E. Parkhurst, Chairman. David I. Walsh, Secretary. 

Walter F. Howard. John W. Corcoran. S. Ives Wallace. 

Bureau of Information and Registration. 

Dr. John F. Worcester, Chairman, Harry B. Merchant, Secretary. 

William L. Hubbard. 

Sunday Observance. 

Charles E. Shaw, Chainnan. Charles D. Copp, Secretary. 

Charles A. Bartlett. John W. McNamara. William Smith. 

Benjamin H. Booth. Luther Walker. Jay W. Powell. 

Jonathan Smith. Dr. Daniel B. Ingalls. 

Historic Spots and Loan Exhibition. 

Christopher C. Stone, Chair»tan. Walter R. Dame, Secretary. 
John S. Allen. Henry C. Greeley. Levi W. Harris. 

Mrs. Addie K. Harris. Charlotte L. Greene. Mrs. Morton M. Ruggles. 

Mrs. Gerdon A. Brown. Esther C. Morse. 

The l/oan Exhibition Organized aa a Sub- Committee. 

Mrs. Morton M. Ruggles, Chairman. Charlotte L. Greene, Secretary. 

Mrs. Gerdon A. Brown. Mrs. Addie K. Harris. Esther C. Morse. 

.Assistants l,oajt Exhibition. 

Mrs. Frank P. Breed. Mrs. Walter R. Dame. Mrs. Eben S. Fuller. Mrs. Albion W. Gibbs, 

Mrs. Frank E. Howard. Nina Bigelow. Bridget A. Cannon. Annie M. Coulter. 

Mrs. Franz C. F. Scherff. Fannie E. Dame. Fannie A. Damon. Catherine S. Field. 

Ella A. Fiske. Helen C. Gibson. Eunice L. Haskell. Rose M. Jenkins. 

Blanche J. McQuaid. Sarah A. Sawyer. Nellie M. Stevenson. Helen A. ThisselJ, 

Mrs. Frank F. Wallace, 

9 



1850. 



MARCH 14. 



1900. 



FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE INCORPORATION OF THE 

TOWN OF CLINTON. 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL BALL. 



Music: 



. . SALEM CADET BAND, of Salem, Mass. 
Jean M. Missud, . . . Conductor. 



eONCE-RT -p-ROe-RAM. 

March— "Under Freedom's Flag." Nowoivieski 

Overture— "William Tell." Rossini 

Solo for Cornet — "Felice." Liberati 

Mr. H. B. Keyes. 

Selections— (a) "Oriental Patrol." Asch 

[b] "American Patrol." Mcacham 

Selection— "The Runaway Girl." Mimckton 

Piccolo Solo— "Little Robin." Damare 

Mr. R. Hannible. 

Selection — "Lohengrin." Wagner 

National Songs— "North and South." Bendix 

FUOO-R -DI-REeTOH. 

FRANK E. HOWARD. 

ASSISTANT PLOOH -Dl-REeTOKS. 

S. Ives Wallace, C. Frank Fairbanks, Jr., Patrick F. Cannon, Orra L. Stone. 

AITDS. 

William H. Whitelaw. Thomas L. Walsh. 
George S. Gibson. Joseph E. Harrity. 

Anton B. Schlickman. 

Samuel W. Tyler. 



Albert S. Fuller. 
Charles W. Field. 
Lyman Leighton. 
Patrick H. Mclntyre 



William A. Fuller. 
Samuel Putnam. 



George Krauss. 
Daniel J. O'Grady. 
Charles R. Frazer. 
Clarence C. Coulter. 



•RECEPTION COMMITTEE, 



Christopher C. Stone. 
Charles Swinscoe 
John W. Corcoran. 
Dr. Philip T. O'Brien. 
Andrew E. Ford. 



Capt. Peter J. Cannon. 
Charles Frazer. 
William Rodger. 
Dr. James J. Goodwin. 
David I. Walsh. 



Eli Forbes. 
Austin E. O'Toole. 
William Hamilton. 
John W. McNamara. 
Dr. George J. Ott. 



Horace H. Lowe. 
Edwin S. Pease. 
Charles F. Martin. 
Jonathan Smith. 
Charles A. Bartlett. 



O-RV) EH OF 

March and Portland Fancy 

1. Waltz John Prescott 

2. Quadrille Factory Village 

3. Schottische James Pitts 

4. Lanciers Lancaster South Village 

5. Two-Step Poignand & Plant 

6. Contra — Virginia Reel Pittsville 

7. Polka Six Nations 

8. Quadrille Clintonville 

Q. Galop Scrabble Hollow 

10. Quadrille Rattlesnake Hill 

11. Waltz McCollumsville 

12. Lanciers Burditt Hill 

13. Two-Step Duck Harbor 



DANCES. 

14. Quadrille Sandy Pond 

15. Schottische Nashua South Branch 

16. Quadrille— Waltz Clamshell Pond 

17. Polka Mossy Pond 

18. Portland Fancy Harris Hill 

IQ. Galop California 

20. Lanciers Liberty Hill 

21. Two-Step Caleb's Garden Royals 

22. Contra— Virginia Reel Common 

23. Schottische Wilson Hill 

24. Waltz Chapel Hill 

25. Extra 

Refreshments served in the lower hall from 1 1 to 

I o'clock, by Caterer Fred J. Pierson. 




Sunday Services. 

June 17th. 



ST. JOHN'S CHURCH.— Comer Union and School 
Streets. 

At 10.30 A. M., Solemn High Mass. Celebrant, Rev. John J. 
O'Keefe, Pastor; Deacon, Rev. John Mullen; Sub-deacon, Rev. 
James Galvin; Master of Ceremonies, Rev. Edward J. Fitz- 
gerald; Assistant Master of Ceremonies, Master Edward Ken- 
ney. Historical sermon: "Fifty Years of Catholicity in Clinton,'' 
by Rev. Edward J. Fitzgerald. 

Music FOR Mass. 

Selection by Orchestra 

AsPERGES Hache 

Kyrie Mozart 

Gloria Mozart 

Credo Weh 

Ave Maria Millard 

By Mrs. Mary Cairnes. 

Agnus Dei Weh 

By Miss Katie Gill. 

Dona Nobis Mozart 

March by Orchestra 

At 3 p. M., Solemn Vespers. Celebrant, Rev. John J. O'Keefe; 
Deacon, Rev. John Mullen; Sub-deacon, Rev. James Galvin; 
Master of Ceremonies, Rev. Edward J. Fitzgerald. Organist, 
Miss Margaret Madigan. Senior Choir, thirty voices. 

Music for Vespers. 

Selection by Orchestra 

Vespers in C Fiske 

Magnificat Stearnes 

Salve Regina 

O Salutaris Concone 

Tantum Ergo Rosewtg 

March by Orchestra 

Immediately after Vespers, Solemn Procession of the Blessed 
Sacrament, as a celebration of the; Feast of Corpus Christi, about 
church grounds and adjacent streets. 

Order of Procession .—Cross bearer; Acolytes; Division 8, A. 
O. H.; Ladies' Auxiliary, A. O.H.; St. John's Temperance Society; 
Ladies' Sodality of B. V. M.; Children's Choir; Boys' Sanctuary 
Choir; Flower Girls; Two Censor Bearers; Celebrant, accom- 
panied by Officers of Vesper and of the Priest, bearing Blessed 
Sacrament under canopy. 

Benediction will be celebrated twice during the procession at 
temporary altars about the church grounds. 

Immediately after the open air service, procession will enter 
church and the Blessed Sacrament will be reposited in tabernacle 
of church. 

CHURCH of the GOOD SHEPHERD. 
Union Street. 

At 5.45 A. M., Holy Communion. 

At 10.30, morning service, with Semi-Centennial sermon by the 
rector. Rev. Victor M. Haughton. 
At 7 P. M., evening service. 

II 



METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.—Higb Street. 

At g.30 A. M., morning classes. At 10.30 public worship, with following order of service: Organ 
Voluntary, Prof. H. T. Bray; Hymn, "Love for Zion" (Timot/iy Dwight); Anthems, "Ye shall go out with 
joy" (Giffe), "Evening and morning" (Perkins), by Chorus Choir, Mrs. A. C. Briggs, chorister; Hymn, 
"Refining fire" (Charles Wesley); sermon by the pastor. Rev. A. M. Osgood; as the Methodist Society and 
Sunday School was organized in 1850, although the class meetings were formed in 1847, the theme will be 
"Fifty years of Methodism in Clinton," with the text from Rev. iv, 11 — "Worthy art thou, our Lord and our 
God, to receive the glory and the honour and the power; ' Hymn, "The Morning light is breaking" (Samuel 
F. Smith). At 12 m., Sunday School; B. H. Booth, Superintendent. 

At 4.30 P. M., Junior League; Mrs. M. A. Osgood, Superintendent. At 6, Epworth League; J. W. 
Powell, President. At 7, public worship, consisting of a devotional and historical service, with general 
participations in consideration of the life of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, who was born June 17, 
1703, and that for which the church stands in point of belief and practice in the community. 

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH.— Walnut Street. 

At 10.30, morning service, with historical sermon by Rev. Charles M. Bowers, D. D. 

MUSIC. 

Organ Prelude — Sonata in E Flat, Op. 379 (first movement) Volckmar 

Anthem — "Send out thy light." Gounod 

Choir Hymn 517 — "The church's one foundation." Dr. Wesley 

Offertoire (organ) — "Lift thine eyes." Mendelssohn 

Postlude — "March in E Flat Hatton 

Al 7 p. M., evening service. Sermon by the pastor. Rev. A. S. Brown, with special reference to Semi- 
centennial Celebration; subject: "Divine Superintendency in Human Affairs." Music appropriate to the 
occasion. 

FIRST CONGRBGATIONAI, CHVRCH.— Walnut Street. 

At 10.30, morning service. Sermon by the pastor, Rev. WiUiam W. Jordan, U. D. Subject: "Fifty 

Years of Church History." 

MUSIC. 

PRELtJDE — Grand Choeur Dubois 

Anthem — "Break forth into joy." Steane 

Chorale — Ein Feste Burg Martin Luther 

Offertoire — Liebeslied Jonas 

Postlude — Offertoire Peirall 

FIRST UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.— Chestnut Street. 

At 10.30, service with preaching by the pastor, Rev. J. H. Moorehead. Subject: "The Lord's Com- 
mand for the Times." 

UNITARIAN CHURCH.— Church Street. 

At 10.30, public worship of God, with preaching by Rev. James C. Duncan, on "The Good Citizen," 
from the text Isaiah Ixii, 1-5, which reads; "For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's 
sake will I not rest, until her righteousness go forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burneth. 
And the nations shall see thy righteousness, * * * * Thou shalt be a crown of beauty in the hand of the 
Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. * * * * For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall 
thy sons marry thee; and as a bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee." 

A special musical program will be rendered, and the church will be decorated in honor of the 
occasion. Before the close of the service the Ordinance of Baptism will be administered. 

GERMAN CHURCH.— Haskell Avenue. 

At 10.15, rnorning service, with preaching by the pastor. Rev. F. C. F. Scherfif. Music by the Church 
Choir and Sunday School, directed by H. Wessels; organist, Lillie Kramer. Following is the order of 
the services: Prelude (Stephen C. Foster); Church Choir — Psalm 126 (Palmer); Reading of Scripture; 
Congregational Singing — Hymn No. i (Mathias Jorissen); Prayer by the Pastor; Singing by the Sunday 
School (Angelus Carey); Sermon, text: Proverbs xxii, 2; Church Choir — Psalm xxxiii, 12 (Chs. H. Gabriel); 
Postlude ( W. F. Taylor). 

ADVENT CHRISTIAN CHURCH.— Courant Block Hall. 

At 10.30 A. M. and 7 P. M., services appropriate to the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Town, with sermon 
by Rev. Frank Burr. Morning subject; "What hath God wrought?" 12 M., Sunday School. Subject for 
evening service: "Prophetic visions." 

12 



HISTORIC LOAN EXHIBITION 

UNITARIAN CHURCH VESTRY. 

Church Street. 

Open Monday and Tuesday, June 18th and 19th, 

From g.oo a. m. to 6.00 p. m. 




PICTURE GALLERY. 

Portraits of citizens prominent in the early 
history of the community. .'. •.• .-. .-. .-. 
Pictures of business blocks, and private houses 
of former years. .'. •.• .•. ".• .•. 

ANCIENT BOOKS AND MAPS. 

Bibles, Sermons, .School-books, 

Almanacs, Law-books, Autograph Albums, 

Newspapers, Local Maps, etc. 

Relics of Revolutionary, Civil, 

and Spanish-American Wars. 

MILL EXHIBITS, 

illustrating the growth of our manufacturing 
interests. 

FURNITURE 

of the Olden Time — the Kitchen, the Parlor. 

Old and Curious China, Glass, 

-— ^ Silver and Pewter. 

Costumes of By-gone Days. 
MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES. 

Laces, Jewelry, Fancy Work, 

Samplers, Toys, etc. 



RBCBPTIOM 

To invited guests at the Loan Exhibition, at 2.30 
p. M., Monday, June iSth. 

GOINGCRT 

By the Salem Cadet Band on lawn of the Unitarian 
Church, at the same hour. 



13 




''Wmim 



k:^^^^ 



SCHOOL CELEBRATION. 

Marshal, J. HARRY O'BRIEN. 

8.00 a. m. — Visit to Grave of John Prescott, the Pioneer. 

Electric Cars and Bicycles. 
"The Story of John Prescott," Hon. Henry S. Nourse. 

1 0.00 a. m. — Dedication of Memorial Tablets. 

The line, composed of the pupils of the High and Grammar Schools, will form on Chestnut Street, east of 

Central Park. 

Rosier of Procession : 

Detail of Police. 

J. Harry O'Brien, Chief Marshal. 

Carriages containing John W. Kimball, State Auditor, and Members of Committee on Historic Spots. 

Carriage containing Members of School Committee. 

Salem Cadet Band— 25 Pieces. 

High School — Classes 1900, 1901, 1002 and 1903. 

Grammar Schools— Grades 9, 8, 7 and 6. 

Parochial School— Grades 9, 8, 7 and 5. 

Line of March.— WsXxiul Street to Prospect Street, Prospect Street to High Street, High Street, to site of 

First Prescott House. 

DEDICATION OF TABLET. 

ADDRESS— Judge Christopher C. Stone, Chairman of General Committee. 

SONG— "The First of Our Homes." - 

Line of March.— Y\\g\\ Street to Water Street, Water Street to site of the First School. 

DEDICATION OF TABLET. 

ADDRESS— Dr. Clarence H. Bowers, of the School Board. 

SONG— "The Common School." 

Line of March. — Water Street to Walnut Street, Walnut Street to Town Hall. 

SONG— "Clinton Fair." 

ADDRESS— Gen. John W. Kimball. 

SONGS— "To Thee, O Country;" "Union and Liberty." 

ADDRESS— Hon. John W. Corcoran. 

SONG — "Clinton Marches On." 

General Procession of Public and Parochial Schools. 

Public Schools in Order of Grade. 
Parochial School. 

Line of March.— C^nrch Street, to corner of Chestnut Street, where the line will be reviewed byiGen. John 

W. Kimball. Chestnut Street to Water Street, Water Street to Walnut Street, Walnut Street to 

Union Street, Union Street to Picnic Grounds, opposite High School Building. 

SONG— "Praise ye the Father." 
Lunch served by the Pupils of the High School. Giving of Souvenirs. 

March of Pupils to respective Schoolrooms. 



«4 




. . . BANQUET . . . 

IN TOWN HALL, MONDAY EVENING, JUNE i8. 



J^U5IC, 5ALE:n CADET BAND, 

OF SALEM, MASS. JEAN M. MiSSUD, CONDUCTOR. 



RBGEPTION PROGRAM. 

1. March — "The Fa\'orite Regiment," Ertl 

2. Selection — "The Serenade," Herbert 

3. Morceau — "My Dusky Queen," Aigrette 

BANQUET PROGRAM, 

1. March — "New Faneuil Hall," Misstid 

2. Overture — "Jolly Robbers," Suppe 

3. Solo for Cornet — "A Dream of Paradise," Gray 

Mr. B. B. Keyes. 

4. Selection — "The Singing Girl," Herbert 

5. American Patrol Meacham 

6. Solo for Tro.mbone — "A Son of the Desert," Phillips 

Mr. Jerome N. Proctor. 

7. Selection — "Lohengrin," Wagner 

8. Selection — "The Belle of New York," Kerker 



Prayer Rev. Abner M. Osgood. 



. . . EXERCISES . . . 

Presiding Officer, Christopher C. Stone. 
Toastmaster, Rev. James C. Duncan. 

Clinton — Its Past Christopher C. Stone 

The Early Settlers Alfred A. Burditt 

The Early Merchants of Clinton Hon. Henry C. Greeley 

Reminiscences of Former Clinton Boys Augustus F. Howell 

Song — "Auld Lang Syne," Audience 

Clinton — Its Present Hon. John W. Corcoran 

Our Industries Charles H. Richardson 

Our Business Interests Warren Goodale 

Our Newspapers Wellington E. Parkhurst 

Music — "Star Spangled Banner," Orchestra 

Our Homes Frank E. Holman 

Our Schools Andrew E. Ford 

Our Churches Rev. Edward J. Fitzgerald 

Music — "Onward, Christian Soldiers," Orchestra 

The Future Charles Francis Fairbanks, Jr. 

Massachusetts David I. Walsh 

The United States of America Hon. Daniel B. Ingalls 

Song — "National Hymn," Audience 

IS 




Military, Civic and Trades 

PARADE 

TUESDAY, JUNE 19th, at 10 a. m. 
Hi 

Platoon of Police 
Chief of Police, Or en B. Bates, Commanding. 

Ckief Marshal. 
GEORGE S. GIBSON. 

Staff. 

Walter F. Page, Chief of Staff 

William G. McGlinchey, .... Quartermaster 

Louis Burke, Jr., Bugler 

E. Everett Thompson Color Bearer 

Jasper M. Gibson, . . . Color Bearer for Marshal 

Dr. James J. Goodwin Surgeon 

Major Frank M. Hammond, Paymaster 

Charles W. Field, Commissary 

Wilfred S. Plaskett, .... Veterinary Surgeon 
Thomas F. Richardson, Engineer 

Aids. 

Fred H. Bates. Edward C. Osgood. 

William H. Dietzman. Otto M. Schmidt. 

John B. McLaughlin. Raymond G.Sawyer. 

Richard J. McIntvke. Fred E. Wilder. 

Thomas L. Walsh. David L Walsh. 
Earl R. Gibbs. 

First Division. 

ELI FORBES, Marshal. 

Staff. 

William A. Fuller, Quartermaster 

Allan G. Buttrick Adjutant 

Charles B. McGrath Color Bearer 

Dr. George J. Ott Surgeon 

Aids. 

George A. Barnard. Benjamin O. Hager. 

Thomas Burns. Frank E. Babcock. 

William H. Fay. Patrick F. Cannon. 

Harry Field. John Connor, Jr. 

i6 



Salem Cadet Band, 25 Pieces, Jean M. Missud, Leader. 

Military Escort to His Excellency the Governor— Company K, Ninth Regiment, M. V. M., 

Captain Peter J. Cannon, Commanding. 

Carriages 

containing His Excellency, Winthrop Murray Crane, Governor, Official Staff of His Excellency, 

Congressmen George W. Weymouth and John R. Thayer, County and Town Officials, Ex-Town Officers 

and Invited Guests. 
Columbia Cadets, Arthur Shaw, Commanding. 
E. D. Baker Post 64, G. A. R., Alfred Heald, Commanding. 
Lieutenant A. L. Fuller Camp 19, Sons of Veterans, Albert S. Fuller, Commanding. 
Lancaster Lodge No. 89, L O. O. P., John Gibson, N. G. 
Lichtenstein Lodge No. 129, German Order Harugari, George Krauss, President. 
Clinton Schiller Verein, Willis Stoebel, President. 
Washington Lodge No. 12, O. D. H. S., Otto Leucht, President. 
Clinton Turn Verein, Fritz Seuss, President. 
Turners' Float. 
Ancient Order of Hibernians, Patrick H. Morrison, President. 
St. Andrew's Mutual Benefit Society, Robert Maitland, President. 
Clan Forbes, Scottish Clans, William Donald, Chief. 
Rose Lodge No. 40, Sons of St. George, Henry E. A. Steadman, President. (Marched with Scottish Clans.) 

Ancient Order of United Workmen. 

United Order of Pilgrim Fathers, Nashawog Colony No. 75. — Float. 

Foresters or America, Court Clinton No. 38, Thomas Jennings, Chief Ranger. 

Prescott Club Coach. 
American Mechanics. 
Hartford Life Insurance Co. — Brake. 

Second Division. 

CHARLES FRAZER, Marshal. 

Staff. 

John F. Worcester Chief of Staff. 

Capt. William F. Shaughnessy, .... Quartermaster. 

Herman J. Brockelmann, Inspector. 

Preston A. Woodward, . . . . Color Bearer. 

Aids. 
Edward P. Griffin. Ira G. Litchfield. John Rodger, Jr. Edward F. Hall. 

John E. Hubbell. John L. McGee. 

Turner Brass Band, 22 Pieces, Otto E. Wohlrabe, Leader. 

Clinton Fire Department. 

Horace H. Lowe, Chief Engineer. 

Assistants — Josiah H. Rogers, Isaac J. Flagg, Fred W. Lange, Robert Nicholson. 

Franklin Hook & Ladder Company No. i, William J. Cox, Foreman; Henry Chipman, Driver. 

Clinton Steamer Company No. i, George W. Cairnes, Foreman; Chas. H. Call, Engineer; John Perry, Driver. 

Steamer Hose Company, Alpha McCracken, Driver. 

Torrent Hose Company No. I, Thomas R. Dougall, Foreman; Fred G. Cheney, Clerk. 

Cataract Hose Company No. 2, Peter F. Devaney, Foreman; John T. Philbin, Clerk. 

G. Walton Goss Hose Company No. 3, Thomas J. Shaughnessy, Foreman; Thomas W. Downey, Clerk. 

Hose Company No. 4, John T. Burke, Foreman; Henry Rising, Clerk. 

Hose Company No. 5, John McQuoid, Foreman; Arthur Sachse, Clerk. 

Clinton Water Department. — Nelson J. Mather, Superintendent. 

Two teams showing working of Department. 

Road Department. — Loren B. Walker, Superintendent. 

Four teams with tools and implements for road building. 

School Department. 

High School Floats: — Class of 1900 — Classic Education — The Muses conferring the Laurel Wreath. 

Classes of igoi-2-3 — Scientific Education. 

Grammar Schools, Grade IX. — Home of John Prescott, the Pioneer. 

Parochial School Float — The Sciences and Arts paying homage to Religion. 

17 



Third Division. 

WARREN GOODALE, Marshal. 

Staff. 

Edward L. Plummer Chief of Staff. 

Frank W. Hartwell, Quartermaster. 

Charles B. O'Toole, Inspector. 

Lester H. Gibson Color Bearer. 

Aids. 
James E. Benham. William L. Bancroft. Thomas Murphy. Eugene H. Lehnert 

Charles F. Martin. George E. McArthur. 

Leominster Brass Band, 25 Pieces. 

Lancaster Mills— One Float. Bigelow Carpet Company— Four Floats. 

Clinton Wire Cloth Company— Two Floats. Clinton Worsted Company— One Float. 

Clinton Foundry Company— One Float. Keyes Wagon Company— One Float. 

Walter W. Wright, Blacksimth— One Float. Parsons & Finan. Blacksmiths— One Float. 

Calvin H. Hastings, Carriage Maker — Two Floats. 

George E. McArthur, Harness Dealer — One Float. 

Charles Bowman, Hardware Dealer — Two Teams. 

Oliver Uitson & Co.— One Float. Singer Sewing Machine Co.— One Float. 

Grocers. 

Fyfe, Fay & Plummer — Eight Teams and Outrider. 

Merritt A. Sails— One Team. Brockelman Brothers— One Team. 

Richard J. Mayberry— One Team. G. H. Hager— Two Teams. 

Joseph McGown— One Team and Outrider. Cutler B. Walker— One Team. 

Julius H. Dartt — Two Teams. 

Fleischman Yeast Co.— One Team. Great N. Y. Tea Co.— Two Teams. 

George H. Fletcher, Fish Dealer— One Team. William A. Wishart, Fish Dealer— One Team, 

Provision Dealers. 
Pease & Kendall — One Team. Frank W. Hartwell — Four Teams. 

Edwin C. Swift — One Team. Ernest Hopfman — One Team. 

William H. Fairbanks — Nine Teams. John S. Sanderson — One Team. 

Edward W. Breed, Florist — One Team. Hamilton's Parcel Delivery — One Team. 

Mrs. E. C. Smyth, Milliner — One Team. Wallace Brothers, Grain Dealers— One Team. 

David I. Bastian & Son— Automobile. Lancaster Ice Co.— Five Teams. 

Milk Dealers. 

C. E. Spofford — One Team. Paul Cunningham — One Team. H. E. Brigham— One Team. 
L. S. Walker & Son— One Team. C. F. Cutler— One Team. S. A. Randall— One Team. 

J. E. Rugg — One Team. 

John E. Phinney, Painter— One Float. Lucius Field & Co., Furniture Dealers — One Team. 

D. W. Brigham, Furniture Dealer — One Team. E. Gately & Co., Boston, Furniture Dealer — One Team. 

Eureka Laundry — Three Teams. Allen D. Wood — Oil Wagon. 

Herbert C. Childs Towel Supply — One Team. 

Bakers. 

William H. Whitelaw — One Team. F. B. Lederer — One Team. Goodwin Bakery — One Team. 

John H. Rowell, Jobber — One Team. Oilman W. Laythe, Shoe Dealer — One Team. 

Morris Poreski, Shoe Dealer — One Team. Thomas J. McNamara, Real Estate Dealer— One Team. 

Christopher Maehnert, Liquor Dealer — One Team. Morris Long, Clothier — One Team. 

American Express Co. — Two Teams. Clinton Gas Light Co. — One Float Standard Oil Co. — One Team. 



The Route of Procession. 

The line will form on High Street and move as follows: Through High, Union, Mechanic, Chestnut, 
Water, Prescott, Church, Cedar, Water, Vale, Branch, Green, Chestnut, Union, Walnut, Water, Main, Union, 
Nelson and Church Streets to the Town Hall. The start will be made promptly at ten o'clock, and the 
parade will be reviewed at the Town Hall from 12 to 12.30, and then dismissed. 

18 




ATHLETIC SPORTS 



AX 



Clinton = Lancaster Driving Park:, 

Tuesday, June 19th, 1900, 



AT 1.30 O'CLOCK: 



>:: ^LIST OK EVENTS.#-^ 

100 YARDS DASH. 220 YARDS DASH. 1-2 MILE RUN. 

1-2 MILE RELAY RACE. 1-2 MILE BICYCLE RACE. 

1 MILE BICYCLE RACE. PUTTING 16-POUND SHOT. 

HIGH JUMP. BROAD JUMP. POLE VAULT. 



No entrance fee will be charged in any event. A competitor may enter as many 
events as he choses. 

Valuable first, second and third prizes in each event. 

In team race each competitor runs 220 yards. 

Points to count: 1st, 5 points ; 2d, 3 points ; 3d, i point. 

The events are open to all residents of Clinton. The track is a half-mile course. 
For team race a prize will be given to each man of winning team. A banner is offered 
to the Club or Society scoring the greatest number of points. 

'9 




^■^^ 



HISTORICAL, LITERARY and MUSICAL EXERCISES. 

Town Hall, Tuesday, June 19th. 



Music by SEMI-CENTENNIAL ORCHESTRA— Seventeen Pieces. 

Selected from Symphony Orchestra of Boston. 

CHORAL UNION OF CLINTON— Eighty Voices. 

EUGENE BUZZELL, Conductor. 



Orchestral Concert at 1.45 P. M. 

MARCH— "2d Regiment." Reeves 

TONE PICTURES OF THE NORTH AND SOUTH Bendix 

WALTZ — " Ammorettentanze." Gungl 

CANZONETTA— "Felice." Langey 

SELECTIONS— from "Tannhauser." Wagner 

Historical, Literary and Musical Exercises, at 2.30 P. M. 

OVERTURE— "Jubel." {.Weber) Orchestra 

The audience is invited to rise with the Chorus and join in singing one verse of "America." 

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS Chairman Wellington E. Parkhurst 

PRAYER Rev. Charles M. Bowers, D. D 

HISTORIC ADDRESS Hon. John W. Corcoran, L. L. D. 

HALLELUJAH CHORUS (Beethoven) Choral Union and Orchestra 

POEM— "John Prescott, the Pioneer." Andrew E. Ford 

RECESSIONAL— words by Kipling— (7£jrrfa«) Choral Union and Orchestra 

MESSAGE FROM THE STATE Charles T. Tatman 

KAISERMARCH (Wagner) Choral Union and Orchestra 

ORATION— "The Town in our National Life." Hon. Merrill E. Gates, L. L. D., Washington D. C. 

ODE Audience, Choral Union and Orchestra 

Written by Ellen K. Stevens, 
30 




FIR.EW0RK5 

Tuesday, Juoe lOthi. 

AT EIGHT O'CLOCK P. M. 

Base Ball Grounds, High Street. 



Salutes of Aerial Guns. 

Illuminations of Colored Lights. 

Balloons with Magnesium Lights 

and Strings of Jewels. 
Manhattan Beach Rockets. 

Parachutes ; Umbrella of Fire. 

Device — 1850-1900, Town Seal. 

Device — Falls of Niagara. Bombs. 

Flight of Rayonet Tourbillion. 

Asteroid Rockets, with Parachutes. 

Mines of Serpents. 
Hanging Chain Rockets. 

Batteries of Variegated Stars. 

Device — Flying Birds. 

Devil among the Tailors. 

Payne's Chromatic Star Rockets. 

Floating Stars. 

Opal Showers, Blossoms and 

Evening Stars. 
Repeating Shells. 

Device — The Performing Elephant. 
John Prescott's Grist-mill in operation. 

Explosion of large Cracker Mines. 

Explosion of Bombs of Liquid Fire. 
Hanging Gardens. 

The Great Bear. 

Peacock Plumes. 

National Streamers. 
Magensium Stars. Electric Stars. 

Devices : 
Aladdin s Jewelled Tree. 

Portrait of Horatio N. Bigelow, 20x20 ft. 
The Starry Flag. 

Good-night. 
21 



1850, MARCH 14. 1900. 

/^N account of the more favorable conditions for out-of-door festivities, June 17, 18 
^^ and 19 were selected for the celebration of the Semi-Centennial, rather than March 
14, the actual anniversary of the incorporation of the town. This anniversary, however, 
was not allowed to pass without notice. 

The day was ushered in by the ringing of bells, the sounding of the fire alarm and a 
salute of guns. These were repeated at noon and sunset. An unfortunate accident to 
Lieutenant Martin J. Healy and John A. Gannon in connection with the firing of the 
salute seemed an inauspicious opening of the anniversary, but the injuries proved less 
serious than was at first anticipated, and were the only ones incurred during the whole 
celebration. 

In the lower grades of schools there were exercises appropriate to the day under the 
direction of Superintendent Charles L. Hunt. The main room of the High School Build- 
ing was filled five times during the day by different departments of the pupils of the High 
and Grammar Schools, to listen to the story of Clinton as told by Principal Andrew E. 
Ford. 

Throughout the town the display of flags showed that the citizens were alive to the 
significance of the day. In anticipation of the Semi-Centennial Reception and Ball the 
front of the Town Hall had been decorated with the national colors and the town seal, 
which was illuminated at night by a circle of incandescent lights. 

The interior decorations for the reception and ball were worthy of the occasion. 
The stairways and lower hall were adorned with evergreen and bunting. The main hall 
was made into one great reception room. A circular shield, glowing with incandescent 
lights, was attached to the center of the ceiling. From this, blue, pink and white bunting 
hung in graceful streamers and passed to the sides of the hall, which had their own dec- 
orations of bunting of the same delicate colors. The gallery was so adorned as to have 
the effect of a series of boxes from the floor. The draperies upon the stage served as a 
harmonious setting for a most beautiful display of flowering plants. 

All the residents of the town who were living within its borders at the time of its 
incorporation were invited as guests of the occasion, and special seats were reserved for 
them near the stage. There were some two hundred of these guests. 

Great as was the reputation of the Salem Cadet Band, the concert surpassed all 
anticipations. By the variety of the music, the discrimination shown in the selection of 
the numbers and the perfection of the rendering every taste was satisfied, and the most 
critical could find no fault. 

The grand march opened at about nine-thirty, and from that time until two there 
was no break in the music, the wind instruments playing for the round dances and the 
stringed instruments for the square dances. The excellence of the music, the beauty of 
the decorations, and the happy spirit that prevailed made this reception one long to be 
remembered with delight by all who participated. 

22 



THE WORK or THE COMMITTEE ON INVITATIONS. 

/^NE of the most pleasing features of the Semi-Centennial was the return of former 
^^ residents. The committee on invitations began its work in the early spring. An 
attempt was made to get a complete list of all persons now living out of town who had 
been residents of Clinton for ten years or more. Through the most unwearied investiga- 
tions a list of some sixteen hundred such persons was completed. In this list the names 
of some were included who had been here a shorter time, but had been especially promi- 
nent in the life of the town. There were two hundred more who were still residents of 
Clinton, who were invited on the ground that they had lived in the town during the fifty 
years of its existence. To all persons on these lists the following invitation was sent : 



1 850 fefe^ d 1 900 




i^?i 



mm 



d'Tl- 



a.-ru/' c=Zyctc€^aA/€^it<i'y<idy ^Vtc-nCo^ Jo^ittne^t/ /it€Sc</€^^^ ya/yw^y<x.Cc'y<xcn,e-)tS'y{/neeii-eSce</ 



■f<t>n4i. 



To this was appended a brief program of events, 

23 



Work of Committee on Invitations. 

Just how many came to Clinton in answer to these invitations is unknown, but there 
were surely many hundreds of the former residents of the town who took this occasion 
for visiting their old home. Some came across the continent from California. The Cen- 
tral States were well represented, but the greater number came from New York and New 
England, and chiefly from eastern Massachusetts. There were many happy reunions of 
families. Friends who had not met for many years clasped hands once more. " How 
are you, old fellow?" What! don't you remember me?" "Your face is familiar, »but I 
can't speak the name." "You need one of Caleb's garden royals to refresh your mem- 
ory." "Why, John, how are you? You've got more hair on your face and less on top of 
your head than you had forty years ago." All through the anniversary meetings similar 
to this in character, though differing in form, were constantly occurring. Familiar spots 
were revisited, long-forgotten stories were recalled, friendships were renewed, the events 
of intervening years were told. Everywhere there was the hearty welcome and the joy 
of meeting old friends once more. No expression was heard more frequently than one 
like this: " I have been in a good many places since I left here, but I have never found 
a place quite equal to Clinton yet." 

A few letters from those expressing regrets for inability to be present are given as a 
sample of many. 

Stonehurst, Intervale, N. H., June 6, iqoo. 
Albert E. Jewett, Esq. 

Dear Sir : Your invitation to Mr. Merriman and myself to attend the celebration of the Semi- 
centennial at Clinton only reached me last night. I wish very much that I might be there, as I am very 
proud of my father's connection with the town, and of all that my uncle did for its welfare. It is, however, 
impossible for me, at this late date, to make my arrangements to be present. * * * Wg hope, 
however, to be represented by our son, Mr. R. Bigelow Merriman, who plans to attend your historical meet- 
ing on Tuesday. He is the only direct descendant of Mr. E. B. Bigelow in the younger generation. 

Very truly yours, Helen Bigelow Merriman. 

Grand Rapids, Iowa, June 13, igoo. 
Dear Sir : Your cordial invitation to attend the Semi-Centennial celebration of the incorporation of 
the town of Clinton was received by due course of mail. My first arrival in Clintonville, at the age of six- 
teen years, was some time in the beautiful month of May, 1849; ^"d r^iy continued residence in the town 
for the next ensuing eighteen years, has been the happiest of my life. To be reared from youth to mature 
manhood under the quiet and moral influences of a peaceful and law-abiding people has served to mould 
a cast of character which, in my old age, I esteem as the best heritage of man. 

I am sorry that my business engagements will not permit me to attend your beautiful celebration. * 
* * May the peace of God be and abide with you all to the latest day. 

Very truly, H. P. Brothers. 

Anderson Parsonage, Tabernacle Church, Salem, Mass. 
Clarence H. Bowers, Esq., Chm. Com. on Invitations, Clinton, Mass. 

My Dear Sir : I am in receipt of your courteous invitation to be present at the Semi-Centennial 
celebration of the incorporation of the town of Clinton, June 17-19. Other engagements will prevent me 
from joining, personally, in the festivities arranged for duly celebrating so important an event as the found- 
ing of a town whose history has been one of unusual and worthy growth, till it ranks among the most enter- 
prising and attractive manufacturing communities in the Commonwealth. For ten years it was my 
privilege to be one of its citizens, and to share in the advantages and duties of such a position. They were 
years of delightful association and labor. While a large number of those who were my most intimate and 
valuable helpers and acquaintances have passed away from among you, their work'remains to be, in no 
slight degree, the foundation of that development and prosperity which, we trust, is in store for the town. 

May the present welfare and promise be more than surpassed by the progress which the next half 
century shall witness, in all that makes for the upbuilding of the best things in religious, social and civic 
life. Respectfully yours, 

June 14, igoo. DeWitt S. Clark. 

24 



Work of Committee on Invitations. 

Mrs. Nancy Petts of Leominster wrote: " I thank you for sending me a card, but I 
cannot come, for I can't go out. I lived in Clinton wlien it was Lancaster and before it 
was named Clinton. I started the loom that wove the first yard of gingham in the mill in 
in your place that is now called Clinton. My name was Nancy Davis. Mr. Bigelow was 
agent. I was there when Mr. Bowers was ordained, and suppose the place has changed a 
great deal. I would be pleased to be there, but cannot. I hope that you will have a nice 
celebration." 

Invitations were also sent to all elective national, state and county ofificers and also 
to all mayors of cities and chairmen of boards of selectmen residing within a distance of 
fifteen miles of Clinton. There were sixty-eight of these, a large proportion of which 
were accepted. Congressman John R. Thayer of Worcester and Congressman George W. 
Weymouth of Fitchburg were present June 19. Governor Winthrop Murray Crane and 
staff came under invitation from a special committee. 

Some of the sub-committees, especially that on School Exercises and that on Musi- 
cal, Literary and Historical Exercises, sent out a considerable number of invitations. 

President Eliot of Harvard University wrote: "It would be very agreeable to me to 
take part in the celebration of the semi-centennial anniversary of the incorporation of 
Clinton; but it is quite impossible for me to do so. The month of June is an exceedingly 
busy one for me." Presidents Tucker of Dartmouth, Hyde of Bowdoin, Butler of Colby, 
Faunce of Brown and Harris of Amherst replied very much to the same tenor. 

The following letters speak for themselves: — 

Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Council Chahher, 
Boston, June 5, igoo. 

My Dear Sir ; It is with much regret that I write you that the business of which I spoke to you at the 
time you called requires me to go west on Monday next, and I shall not be able to return in time for the 
interesting anniversary that Clinton is tp celebrate on the i8th of June. I have learned, however, that His 
Excellency, the Governor, will be present to join in the celebration, and assure you that had it been possi- 
ble, nothing would have given me greater pleasure than to have accompanied him. Congratulating the 
town on its past, and with best wishes for its future, I remain. 

Yours very truly, John L. Bates. 

Navy Yard, Boston, May 28, 1900. 

Dear Sir : Referring to your letter of May 26th, Rear Admiral Sampson directs me to state that he 
very much regrets that he will be unable to accept the very kind invitation of the town of Clinton tendered 
therein. He has not been in very good health recently, and although he has been able to accept the hospi- 
tality of one or two towns on similar occasions, he feels that it will be necessary for him to deny himself 
this pleasure in the future until such time as his health improves. He begs to thank you, and through you 
the members of the committee, for your kindness in asking him to be with you, and also for the very kind 
sentiments contained in your letter, and hopes that you may have a very successful and pleasant reunion. 

Very truly yours, 

E. L. Bennett, Lieutenant and Aide. 

25 Buckingham Street, Cambridge, Mass., March 24, igoo. 

Dear Sir : I thank you very much for your invitation, and recall with pleasure my visit to Clinton 
[at the dedication of the town hall] twenty-seven years ago. But I am quite sure that it would not be possi- 
ble for me, with existing engagements, to give the address you desire. It is pleasant to me that after this 
length of time you still wish to have me again. 

Cordially yours, T. W. HiGGlNSON. 

2? 



Decorations. 

Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, 
My Dear Sir: Washington, D. C, March 5, igoo. 

I have already declined several quite pressing invitations to deliver public addresses during the 
coming season, including an invitation from Concord and one from Lexington for the igth of April; and 
several for the month of June. I shall have to be at the Harvard Commencement, I suppose. But it is 
likely to be the busiest time during the session of Congress, so I cannot properly be long absent, and I can- 
not get time for proper preparation for such a service as you propose. 

I should like very much to meet the people who will gather then. I am glad that you remember I am 
a descendant from John Prescott, the founder of the town. * * * * 

I am, with high regard, faithfully yours, Geo. F. Hoak. 

United States Senate, Washington, D. C, March 10, 1900. 

My Dear Sir : I thank you very much for your kind invitation to deliver an address on the i8th of 
June on the semi-centennial of the incorporation of the town of Clinton, and I wish I could accept, but, I 
am sorry to say, it is impossible for me to get away from Washington during the session of Congress on 
account of my public duties, and in any event the date you mention comes at the time of the Republican 
National Convention. 

With renewed thanks for your invitation, and with much regret that I cannot come, believe me, 

Sincerely yours, H. C. Lodge. 

Navy Department, Washington, March 15, 1900. 
My Dear Sir : I very much appreciate the invitation of the town of Clinton which you have so cor- 
dially forwarded to me, to make an address on the occasion of the celebration of the semi-centennial of 
the corporation of the town, on the 18th of June next. I regret that I have already made an engagement, 
so that it is impossible for me to avail myself of this kind invitation. 

I have most delightful recollections of the town of Clinton and of many of its citizens whom I know, 
and with some of whom I have been associated in the public service. With best wishes for the occasion, 

I am, truly yours, John D. Long. 



DECORATIONS. 



I 'HE extent to which the town was decorated was a surprise even to the members of 
■^ the General Committee. Only a few days before the celebration many of our citi- 
zens said, in reply to inquiries, "Oh no, I am not going to decorate;" but when such a 
one saw his neighbor decorating, he was also stirred to do likewise, and before the iSth, 
nearly every building along the line of the procession was adorned with bunting in every 
variety of festoons, rosettes and streamers. The national colors prevailed and patriotic 
pictures were common. The work was begun on the public buildings more than a week 
before the celebration. Upon a building like the Town Hall, which depends for its effect 
on its simplicity and massive dignity, decorations of bunting often seem sadly out of 
place, but on this occasion they were arranged in such subordination to the features of 
the building and to the vines which add grace to its dignity, that the most critical taste 
could not fail to be satisfied. The picture of the front of the building best reveals the 
character of the work. A gentleman overheard a conversation between two school-boys 
who were admiring the decorations. "Do you know who that is?" said one, pointing to 
the state seal with its picture of Massasoit. " No," said the other; "do you?" " Course 
I do. It's the guv'nor, and he's a coming here next Tuesday." The three school-houses 

26 



o 






H 

D 
m 

n 
o 

> 

o 




Bureau of Information, Registration and Press. 

about the park, the Court House and all other public buildings on the line of the proces- 
sion, were decorated with equal taste, though with less profusion. 

Most of the work on the business blocks and dwelling-houses was delayed to the end 
of the week, as some of the decorators had used their materials at Framingham; but 
when the work once began it was pushed forward with the utmost speed. One decorator 
of long e.xperience said: " I never knew so much bunting to be put up in so short a time." 
It would be unfair when so many did so much, to pick out a few for special description. 
One can judge from the limited number of pictures given, the general character of the 
work. Views of the parade, later on in this volume, also give further decorations. 



BUREAU OF INFORMATION, REGISTRATION AND PRESS. 

TT was early realized that systematic arrangements must be made for securing and trans- 
*■ mitting such information as would be of value to our guests and the meqibers of the 
press. A committee was appointed for this purpose and headquarters were established at 
Merchant's Drug Store. An ofTicial Scmi-Centennial Register was opened, in which all visi- 
tors were requested to record their names and residence. A list was made of boarding 
places and of rooms to let for the benefit of those inquiring for such accommodations. 
Arrangements were perfected for convenient communication by telephone and telegraph. 
Intelligent clerks were on hand, always ready to give any information or assistance 
desired. 

Very great pains were taken also to extend every possible courtesy to the members 
of the press who visited us. A room was provided for their convenience, multiplex cop- 
ies of manuscripts were made, and refreshments were served. As one of these gentlemen 
said: "The people of Clinton treated us right and we tried to do the best we could by 
them." The Globe, Herald, Journal and Post of Boston, The Spy and Telegram of Wor- 
cester gave in various editions extended and illustrated accounts of the celebration. 
Many other city papers gave us considerable attention. 

Our local papers, the Item and Courant, were from the beginning constantly stirring 
up the people to greater effort, suggesting wiser methods and giving unstinted praise to 
all patriotic endeavor. The Semi-Centennial Number of the Item was a mine of informa- 
tion, the highest reach of journalism in this community. 



Arrangements were made for the ringing of bells, the blowing of steam whistles and 
the firing of salutes at seven a. m., twelve m., and at sunset on Monday ami Tuesday. For 
the salutes, on account of the accident of March 14, bombs were used instead of the 
cannon. 

A souvenir offlcial program was published June 15, and a copy was given to each 
household in town and one to each invited guest. A modified form of this program is 
given on pages 7-21. The illustrations were designed by George B. Ford. 

A badge of the design given on page 7, with bars varying according to the commit- 
tee of the wearer, was designed for the occasion and made of bronze. It was also printed 
on silk ribbon for the use of the ofificers of the committees and others. 



27 



SUNDAY OBSERVANCES. 

CUNDAY, the first day of the celebration, opened bright and cool. As the anniver- 
*^ sary was generally observed by the churches of the town, local patriotism and regard 
for the memory of our fathers combined with religion to attract the citizens and the 
many visiting sons and daughters of Clinton to the services. As the hour of the morn-" 
ing service approached the streets were thronged by thousands who quickly filled the 
churches. On no other day in our whole history have so many people gathered for 
worship. The interior of many of the churches was beautifully decorated for the occa- 
sion with flowering plants. These combined with the bright hues of the summer gar- 
ments to give a fitting setting to the joyous thankfulness for a past so full of blessings, 
which found expression in the faces of the great congregations, as well as in the music, 
the prayers and the sermons. The program has been given, the historical sermons follow. 
To complete the true impression of the day we only need to realize the unwonted respon- 
siveness of the assembled thousands to the spirit of the song and the preacher. When 
the services were over there were the greetings of friends long separated to add to the 
joyousness of the day. 

In the afternoon the Catholics celebrated the Feast of Corpus Christi with the Sol- 
emn Procession of the Blessed Sacrament about the church grounds and adjacent streets. 
There were many hundreds in the procession and many thousand spectators. 

The record of the day would be incomplete without mention of the many family re- 
unions by which it was characterized. Hence the influences of home, scarcely less than 
those of the church, helped to hallow it. 

ST. JOHN'S CATHOLIC CHURCH. 

"Fifty Years of Catholicity in Clinton." 

Sermon by Rev. Edward J. Fitzgerald. 

The text: — "This is the day which the Lord hath made, let us be glad and rejoice therein." — Ps. iiy, 24. 

Today is a glad day for the town of Clinton, marking as it does the public celebration 
of her first fifty years of life. We as citizens rejoice in the record that is hers. Fifty 
years of development in every department of her corporate being, fifty years of health)- 
progress, fifty years of achievement, if not brilliant at least solid and respectable, with the 
promise of even greater expansion in the golden future which stretches out before her. 

As Catholics we rejoice likewise in the growth of the Old Church in our town, and 
there is no conflict between our joy and pride in our town's growth and our rejoicing in 
our church's progress, for every step in the progress of our church, registering as it does 
an advance along the moral and social scale for our people, makes likewise an element 
of strength and solid betterment for the civil body, because it has been proved here in 
Clinton, as it has often before been proved elsewhere, that the better Christian a man is, 
the better citizen he becomes; the more loyal a man is to God and his conscience, the 
more loyal he is to his country and her laws. 

28 



St. John's Catholic Church. 

So today we throw wide open our doors and invite all our fellow-citizens, irrespective 
of creed, to rejoice with us. For our progress as a church, in which we are justly proud, 
is likewise an element (and be it said in all modesty, no small or insignificant element) 
in the town's advancement. 

Although our church in Clinton, dating her birth from the first time that sacredotal 
hands offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, is some years older than the half century, 
yet today furnishes a convenient stopping place wherein to pause and look backward, 
and mine is the pleasant task to unroll the scroll of glorious achievement and briefly 
recount some of the triumphs that mark her page. 

Our minds go back in fancy five and fifty years. This thriving town with its busy 
air, its crowded streets, its solid, substantial business blocks, its varied manufacturing 
enterprises, its grand churches and spacious schools, fades away and in its stead we see a 
little country village, hill-embowered, straggling along the banks of the Nashua River. 
A few houses of wood mark out what is now the business center of our town. Giant trees 
cast their grateful shadows; green and silver are the prevailing color tones that give life 
to the landscape, while in the distance grim Wachusett sentinels the valley. As fair a 
scene as our fair state contains, and all Nature is at her loveliest, for it is the early sum- 
mer time, when, if ever, come perfect days in our New England. 

Over in what is now the California district, a few Irish immigrants — only a score — 
are assembled about an altar built in the open air, with God's own canopy for a roof tree 
and God's own glorious sunshine bathing it in a golden glamour. It was no new thing 
for Irishmen to worship God under the sky, and doubtless it recalled to many a one sim- 
ilar scenes enacted in the old land in the penal days, when it was a crime to be a Catholic. 
A tall young man of kingly form and face is standing at the foot of the altar, vested for 
the Holy Sacrifice. The mass is begun, and soon the tinkling bell tells the kneeling 
faithful that the great supreme moment has come. With bursting hearts and with bowed 
heads— aye, with moist eyes I doubt not — they hear those words of awful import, "This 
is my body " breathed for the first time within the limits of the present town of Clinton. 

An historic scene, this, and had any one with prophetic eye foretold this scene today 
— that within a short fifty years this churchless congregation would be housed in the 
grandest church in Clinton and one of the grandest in the state; that the score of wor- 
shipers would be multiplied two or three hundred fold; that the tall young man of majes- 
tic mien who served the congregation at infrequent intervals would be succeeded by four 
resident priests; that tlie most lordly mansion within the town's limits, then indeed not 
built, but already conceived in the mind of its owner, would one day be topped by a 
gilded cross under whose outstretched arms would repose the Eucharistic Lord, his pres- 
ence marked by the never-quenched lamp; that another cross would likewise point heaven- 
ward, crowning a building, not indeed glorious in its material make-up, but thrice glorious 
in what it stands for. Christian education, and thrice glorious in what it shelters under its 
humble roof, a band of women who have sacrificed their lives to teach religion and science 
to the children of the parish; your children, dearly beloved, the hope and seed of the 
church of the next century — he would have been laughed to scorn and his prophecies 
regarded as the phantom of a heat-oppressed brain. 

But such is the storj*. The details perchance are interesting — at least in outline. 
Father Gibson, one of the pioneer priests of central Massachusetts, was the first priest to 
say mass in Clinton. But ten years had passed since the first church was erected in 
Worcester until the zealous priests of that town had extended their missionary zeal to 
twelve missions, including practically all the center of the state. One of these missions 

29 



St. John's Catholic Church. 

was Clintonville. Of course, to reach all and do the greatest good to the greatest num- 
ber, to keep alive the spark of faith until more prosperous times would raise up a native 
clergy, was the aim of the early missionary priests. 

Driving over the road from Worcester, Father Gibson for two years served the peo- 
ple of Clintonville well, saying mass about once in six or eight weeks, sometimes even 
less frequently, in a contractor's shant)' conducted by one Michael Fahey. Father Gib- 
son was not thirty years of age, and his erect figure and active strength must have often- 
times been taxed by the arduousness of his labors, and when the people of Clinton pray 
for their benefactors let them not forget the man who planted the seed of faith among 
them. 

In 1847, '^he congregation increasing somewhat, Father Gibson saw the necessity of 
a church, and to this end began to collect funds. His first effort netted but 875, which 
fact would argue that the congregation had not increased very greatly, since the Irishman 
is never a niggard toward his priest. In November of this year (1847), Father Boyce 
was appointed curate to Father Gibson, and seems to have taken entire charge of the 
Clintonville mission. Mass was said now monthly in a house belonging to the Bigelow 
Carpet Company, which house still stands, and might well be marked with a memorial 
tablet by the grateful Catholics of Clinton. 

After a while mass was said bi-weekly. It was not until 1849 t^hat Father Boyce saw 
his way clear to establish a permanent church home for his people. Being unable to pur- 
chase land in the center of the town, he bought a small lot on what is now South Main 
Street and erected thereon a modest frame church with a seating capacity of about two 
hundred and fifty, which was afterward doubled by surrounding the auditorium with a 
gallery. Here for thirteen years did the eloquent Father Boyce and his able co-laborer, 
Father, afterward Bishop, O'Reilly celebrate mass, at first every other Sunday, finally 
every Sunday, and often did that modest little church echo to the words of piety and 
eloquence from the lips of the finest pulpit orator in New England. 

As yet Clinton had no resident priest. In 1862, the mission of Clinton was cut off 
from Worcester and a permanent resident pastor. Father Connolly, was appointed. He 
served this parish less than six months, when Death claimed him for her own. 

His successor was Father Quinn, "who was pastor during the troublous times of the 
war. Father Quinn was long past his prime when he assumed charge of Clinton. He 
was, as one of the oldest members of our congregation who knew him well has said, a 
typical "hedge priest," good and zealous and priestly, but in striking contrast to the pol- 
ished and eloquent Boj-ce. Although he did not lead the people to great heights, yet in 
his own humble way he kept alive the faith and prepared' the way to a glorious harvest. 
At length increasing infirmities told him his days of activities were drawing to a close. 
His work was done, and retiring from the active ministry, he put his house in order and 
awaited with an unfaltering trust the coming of his Master. 

In May, 1868, Father D. A. O'Keefe, a young man of holiest promise, lovable and 
well-beloved, zealous and of more than the usual ability, succeeded to the office and 
responsibilities of leader of the Catholics of Clinton. It appeared that it was to be his 
privilege to develop the young parish and put it on the stable basis that has made it one 
of the strongholds of Catholic faith in New England. But it was not to be. He was cut 
off ere his life of promise had reached its meridian. The old parishioners yet speak in 
softened tones when they tell of young Father O'Keefe dying in the twenty-ninth year of 
his age. His body is a sacred trust to the parish and his name and influence still a bene- 
diction. 

30 






O 

z 

n 
> 

H 

rc 
O 

n 
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c 

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St. John's Catholic Church. 

By this time the congregation had outgrown the little church on the hill. It was not 
central; moreover, its stability had been taxed beyond its strength on the occasion of 
Father O'Keefe's funeral; some of the supports giving away, a panic was narrowly averted 
by the cool-headedness of one of the congregation, who in stentorian tones told the 
frightened congregation to keep their seats. 

A new church was now imperatively demanded, and the new pastor. Rev. Father 
Patterson, at once took steps to build a more commodious church and one more befitting 
the faith and numbers of the Catholics of Clinton. A frame building, familiar to all the 
parish and town's-folk now as the St. John's School, was erected on Pleasant Street, and 
with its seating capacity of nine hundred, provided a church home for the Catholics during 
sixteen years. But the town was growing apace and the Catholic population outstrip- 
ping it in its growth. Already the old church was inadequate and the growing numbers 
and the increasing prosperity of the Catholics made the plan of erecting an enduring 
church, which would be a glory to the God who dwelt therein and an ornament to the 
town, no longer a chimera. 

The year 1875 saw the consummation of this project, when on August 8 the erst- 
while curate, now the first Bishop of the Springfield diocese, laid the corner-stone of St. 
John's Church in which we are assembled today. The basement finished, the work lagged 
somewhat for five years, when by the united efforts of the loyal and generous people of 
the parish, the superstructure was raised and ornamented, and 1886 saw it dedicated to 
God with the beautiful ceremonial of our church, the Right Reverend Bishop being sur- 
rounded by the most dignified members of his clergy, and the lesson of the event being 
pointed out by eloquent lips. 

It was the next year that the pastor, seeing the inroads that irreligion was making in 
our country and desiring to save his people from this scourge, renovated the old church, 
now no longer needed as a place of worship, into a school building and invited the Sisters 
of the Presentation Order to assume charge of St. John's Parochial School. The story of 
their early privations reads like a page from the "Jesuit Relations" or the "Journeyings 
of DeSmet." But discouragements did not daunt those valiant women. Privation but 
stimulated them to more zealous efforts, and one of the brightest pages of our parish 
record will ever be the self-sacrifice of that noble band of twelve, who like apostles 
regarded all suffering as nugatory if only it was undertaken for Christ. 

The school work of the parish was started as humbly and under as many privations 
and discouragements as the early church herself. But already the steady effort has begun 
to have its effect. Already the children who were nurtured in old St. John's have begun 
to claim a hearing from the business and professional world. Though the band be small 
it is worthy and creditable, and it is not rash to say it, that the seed sown in the old red 
school-house will increase and multiply and bear fruit a hundred fold. 

No need to speak of the work of Father Patterson in Clinton, which ended with the 
year 1899. The eloquent words of his old neighbor still ring in our ears and the magnifi- 
cent outpouring of sympathy and respect that marked his funeral still lingers in our 
minds. All Clinton testified its respect for the man and the position that he held — the 
leader of the Catholic body. No scene has more eloquently bespoken the advancement 
of the Catholics in this town from a position of insignificance to a position where they 
have to be dealt with as an influential body, than that funeral. The priest dies, but the 
priesthood continues. The pastor goes to his reward, but his successor takes up the bur- 
den. The struggle is ever onward. 

Since 1871, the pastor of Clinton has been assisted by co-laborers in the priesthood. 

31 



St. John's Catholic Church. 

Among the early curates of the parish there caine in 1877 a young man, active, zealous 
and fearless. It was in the month of May that he first walked among the Catholics of 
Clinton. He labored here for about one year and a half, a considerable part of the time 
in charge of the parish, the pastor being absent in Europe. When at length he was sent 
by authority to other fields, he carried with him the respect and good-will of the parish, 
which had learned to admire and love the fearless young Levite. 

Years passed away and death made the pastoral office vacant in Clinton. The needs 
of the church had become more exigent; difficulties had accumulated and the Bishop, 
desiring to do the best for the parish, chose this priest, now matured in judgment and age, 
but still active and zealous, to undertake the labor. He is now in the breach. The silver 
of twenty-five years of sacrifice have touched his hair — the blessings of twenty-five years 
of priestly work have mellowed his heart — the wisdom of twenty-five years of ministry 
have enriched his mind. Under his guiding hand new glories are promised this church. 
May God give it to him to realize all that promise. 

Such is in brief the record of the material advance that has been made in our town 
by the Catholics. There is another record which has never been written in human char- 
acters, but which is inscribed in glowing colors in the Book of Life. Such advance, such 
a record could only be accomplished by a people, no one of whom could be called wealthy, 
through great sacrifice and by great generosity. No man will ever know the heart's blood 
that has cemented together the walls of this church; no human record will ever tell the 
blessings that have come to this congregation and this town through the church life 
which has been so imperfectly sketched; the marriages blessed, the children taught to 
know God and duty, men reclaimed from paths of vice, earnest souls led on to perfection 
still higher, young men encouraged to heed the call of God, to take God for their portion 
and inheritance — all this is of the inner history of this parish which cannot be set forth 
in sermon or paper. God alone knows the details. That this work has been going on 
abundantly, the healthy life of our congregation and the experience of every family 
within its fold eloquently testify. It will be blazoned forth when the veil is drawn aside 
and we will see no longer obscurely as in a glass, but face to face. 

One last word: The past is fled. Its triumphs and glories are ours as a memorial, 
as an incentive, but the mill is not turned by the water that is past. New fields, new 
triumphs are before us, and encouraged by the noble advance made in the first half cen- 
tury, we begin the second half of our church's and our town's life with a noble promise. 
We Catholics of Clinton wheel into the twentieth century under conditions most favorable 
to our growth and influence. We began life here despised and hated by our brethren of 
different religious beliefs. Today we are respected by every shade of Christian profes- 
sion. The people of our town have grown together in the long years in which they have 
lived together, working and fighting side by side. 

Today in our town the only question asked of her citizens is: "What sort of a man is 
he?" The town demands only good men, and to such men she is willing to entrust her 
dearest charge — her honor. Let it be our duty to see that we furnish our share of such 
citizens. We are charged by God with a message to this communit)'. We are a royal 
priesthood, as the Apostle Paul calls us, and from pulpit, store, mill and home the mes- 
sage of peace on earth, goodwill to men, must be preached; not alone by word, but more 
especially by upright, godly, clean lives; and this done, happiness and success will be the 
portion of our church and our fair town. 

May God bless our church and town. May His Spirit dwell with them forever. 

32 



Church of the Good Shepherd. 

CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 

Sermon by the Rector, Rev. Victor M. Haughton. 
Text : — Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, yea and forever. — Hcb. xiii, 8. 

We live in the future. For the true follower of Christ is, like Saint Paul, longing to 
be with the ascended Lord, and all of us more or less look forward to the time of the 
coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 

We live in the present, because today, we who are alive unto God, tender the dispen- 
sation of the Holy Ghost, Who sanctifieth us and all the people of God, try to appropriate 
the benefits of "his blessed passion and precious death, his mighty resurrection and glori- 
ous ascension." 

And we live in the past, because every year, as Christians, we keep and observe 
events which transpired hundreds of years ago. As each year rolls by we celebrate 
Christmas day, the anniversary of our Lord's birth so long ago in Bethlehem of Judea; 
Good Frida)', the day commemorative of his crucifixion on Calvary; Easter day, the 
memorial of his resurrection from the dead; and Ascension day, when He ascended into 
heaven and sat down on the right hand of God. 

So that in the Church of God the historical consideration of things comes to us quite 
naturally. It is our most frequent attitude, some times, be it said, to our disadvantage. 
We are ever looking backward to Jesus Christ. He is the beginning of things Christian, 
of lives Christ-like; and it has been a continuous, connected course. There is no divid- 
ing line between the different periods. There is no rupture in the descent. There is no 
rent in the continuity. Except for purposes of study and method, there is no such thing 
as an early Church, a mediaeval and a modern. There is not one Church in the early ages, 
another Church with different ministry and creed in the middle ages, and another Church 
at the time of the Reformation with a new and modern liturgy. But it is the same 
ecclesiastical structure which was built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, 
Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone. We have the same creed, the same 
Scriptures, the same liturgy, the same ministry that had the servants of Jesus Chirst in 
the first one hundred years. The creed that we repeat at every public service is not the 
outcome of religious, philosophical and scientific enquiry of the best minds of this great 
nineteenth century, but goes back to the earliest days of the Church of God. The liturgy 
that we use in worship is not the results of the devotion of the saints of this materialistic 
age, but the work of many men of God, going back to the time of Moses, the great Jew- 
ish leader. Our Scriptures from which we read at every service are not the products of 
this very intelligent, progressive day, but are all of them the work of Jewish, Greek and 
Semitic minds, barel)- the work of the Christian era. The names bishop, presbyter and 
deacon, and the threefold number of our ministry go back to the Greek language and to 
the first one hundred years of Christian history for their origin. 

These are years of great change, progress and movement. The steps taken by 
modern civilization are long and rapid ones. We are leaving many ancient customs, laws 
and habits far behind. Some of us are liable to forget, however, that amid all this ebb 
and flow of mind and matter, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, yea and forever. 
Others among us possibly, so intent upon modern discoveries, upon recent advances of 
science and philosophy, upon today's changes in locomotion, and study, forget what the 
statesmen of yesterday, lawyers of the past, the churchmen of the earliest days have 
done, that we are enabled to move at the very quick step at which we are moving. 

The words we use in daily conversation, the phrases we employ in speech, the names 

33 



Church of the'^Good Shepherd. 

of our rivers, lakes, towns, villages and commonwealths connect us with and bind us to 
dead languages, destroyed peoples and foreign lands. They take us back to the days of 
barbarians and savages, to the shores of ancient nations and civilizations. Every letter we 
direct to Boston must bear in abbreviation or full the name Massachusetts, and that word 
reminds us of the past, when this country was peopled with many noble, distinguished, if 
cruel savage redmen; and the thoughts of the large of heart regret the destruction of the 
Narragansetts, the Mohicans, the Penobscots and their kindred tribes, which have left us 
hardly a memory of their former existence except in the names of the lovely streams, 
lakes and mountains of New England and elsewhere, where we roam and camp and fish 
— Connecticut, Winnipiseogee, Minnehaha. 

We take the train and hurry to the beautiful hills of Vermont and the gem of inland 
lakes, Champlain, and the foreign sound of these words recalls to us the fact that at one 
time this portion of Noith America saw the gay French cavalier and the richly dressed 
marquis. The lily of the Bourbons and the flag of France floated over those romantic 
waters and among those green hills. We go still further, and we ride through Amster- 
dam or Rhinebeck, Staartsburg, Hoboken, and the names of these places tell us that the 
Dutchmen from Holland had something to do with their settlement. We wander around 
the country to Louisiana, New Orleans, La Fourche, Fernandina, Volusia, to San Fran- 
cisco, to Dublin, and we return to our home quite confused as to the real identity of 
the American. We find that America is a continent discovered in 1492 by an Italian 
with a Spanish fleet. The country was settled by Scotch, Irish, French, Spaniards, Ger- 
mans, Dutch, English and Indians, and the continent itself is named after an Italian, 
Amerigo Vespucci. 

These curious names which we meet with in the history and geography of our land 
warn us that many varieties of mankind have helped to form this great republic, and this 
fact tells us that we of today are merely the children of these men of yesterday. We are 
continuing cities built by them — the Spaniard and Frenchman, the Dutchman and Irish- 
man. We are standing on their platforms, piers and walls. We are eating grains and 
fruits gathered from the soil which they prepared for agricultural purposes by first felling 
the huge primeval forests. But further back still we go to search for our origins. Right 
here in this building, this morning, we have read translations from the Hebrew, Greek 
and Latin tongues. Greek symbols are worked into embroidery for ecclesiastical hang- 
ings. A Latin cross tops the pinacle on the outside of the building, and another stands 
on the re-table. And all these outward and material things, with the name of our church, 
point to the one only object of our religion, the Christian religion, Jesus Christ, a Jew, 
betrayed by Jews to a Latin ruler, "crucified under Pontius Pilate," and the whole under- 
taking under the watchful care of Roman soldiery. We are linked to the past by ever 
increasing claims of thought, act, and sentiment. The Magna Charta of England's noble- 
men in 1215, the brave, tough warriors of Charles Martel at the battle of Poictiers in 732, 
the creed of Nicaea in 323, the laws of Justinian, the battle of Marathon, the preaching 
of the Apostle's and the cross of Jesus Christ — all have made us what we are. We may 
change our customs, our manners, our language; we may alter our modes of locomotion 
from the sail to the steamboat, from the coach-and-four to the steam engine and the pal- 
ace-car, but we cannot separate our life of today from the life of the Arabian, the Roman, 
the Mesopotamian and the Jew of yesterda\'. ^ 

It is well to remind ourselves of this feature of our beginnings, because today we cel- 
ebrate, by appointment, the incorporation of the town of Clinton, and the short history of 
our church, the Good Shepherd. This we cannot do without doing justice to the past. 

34 



Church of the Good Shepherd. 

The very names of our own and of the towns about us are taken from England — Bolton, 
Lancaster, Rutland, Worcester and Clinton remind us of those confused days when Eng- 
land herself was passing through the period of amalgamation — when Angle, Saxon, Dane, 
Celt and Norman were together building a civilization begun by the widel\- wandering 
soldier of the Roman empire, who has left his traces in England in all names of towns 
ending in Chester. The history of our town is short compared to the centuries that have 
fled, and our church history is shorter still; but we must remember that in this short 
period of half a century we can trace the influence upon Clinton of the Greek, the Roman 
and the Jew, whose empires faded away a thousand years ago or more. 

Way back in August, 1847, Doctor Alexander Vinton, of Saint Paul's, Boston, was 
visiting Lancaster, and he held a service in Clinton in the Congregational church. It 
may interest you to know that the choir was composed of Mr. Charles G. Stevens and his 
sister, and the organist was Mrs. Eleanor Chase Morse, a daughter of Bishop Chase, the 
first bishop of New Hampshire. 

In 1853, the Rev. Francis T. Russell, who is at present instructor in elocution in the 
General Theological Seminary in New York city, endeavored to start a mission and parish 
in Clinton. Bishop Eastburn, then bishop of Massachusetts, opposed the scheme, be- 
cause he wished no more weak parishes on his hands, as then All Saints, Worcester, was 
beginning its church life and did not seem to give promise of success. Bishop Chase 
urged Bishop Eastburn to reconsider, but to no purpose. 

After many years. All Saints, Worcester, and Christ Church, Fitchburg, growing 
strong enough to lend a helping hand to surrounding districts, the effort to start a parish 
was made again, and February 15, 1874, the Rev. Henry L. Jones, then of Christ Church, 
Fitchburg, now of Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, held a service in Bigelow Hall. The next 
month, March 22, Dr. William R. Huntington, the rector of All Saints, Worcester, now of 
Grace Church, New York city, held a second service. Dr. Huntington invited those 
who were interested in the formation of a parish to remain after the service, and it was 
then decided to hold regular services, beginning with the first Sunday after Easter, April 
12. Various clergymen officiated on the Sundays following, but on the last Sunday in 
June, the Rev. L. Gorham Stevens, a clergyman in deacon's orders, took charge of the 
mission under appointment from Bishop Paddock, who had been consecrated bishop of 
Massachusetts the year before, September 17, 1873. 

On Novembers of the same year of Mr. Stevens' coming (1874), Bishop Paddock 
made his first visitation of the new mission and confirmed twelve persons in Bigelow Hall. 

The following Easter, March 28, 1875, Mi"- Stevens resigned, having been in charge 
of the mission something less than a year, and the next Sunday the Rev. J. C. Hewlett, 
now of Argo House, Roslindale, Boston, administered the Holy Communion for the first 
time to the twenty communicants of the mission, in Bigelow Hall. 

For a while different clergymen came from Sunday to Sunday; then the Rev. John 
W. Birchmore took charge, though never residing in the town. 

In the meantime the Sundaj'-school was increasing, always being, in one sense, more 
vigorous and prosperous than the congregation. The Sunday-school had been organized 
at the very first, April ig, 1874, one month after the mission was established. The place 
of worship up to the time that the Rev. Mr. Stevens departed had been Bigelow Hall; but 
later the services were held in the District Court Room, which was then on the second 
floor in Haskell's Block. 

Plans for a church building were always more or less in the minds of those interested 
in the mission, and at the suggestion of the Rev. Dr. Bowers efforts were made to pro- 

35 



Church of the Good Shepherd. 

cure by gift or purchase ihe shares, from the shareholders, in the Library Building, the 
library having been moved to the Town Hall Building. This was done, and on October 
28, 1876, the corner-stone of the new church was laid. The following year, April 17, 1877, 
the building was consecrated. 

Mr. Birchmore remained with the mission until April 28, 1878, when he resigned and 
went West. With the exception of a few Sundays, the Rev. N. H. Chamberlain, now of 
Monument Beach, Massachusetts, officiated until August, and then (1878) the Rev. 
Henry L. Foote accepted a call. Mr. Foote seems to have been the first settled priest in 
charge, and on April 14, 1879, a parish organization was formed, two wardens and five 
vestrymen being elected as officers. Mr. Foote, in July, 1881, after a ministry of less 
than three years of the Church of the Good Shepherd, left for Holyoke. 

In September, the Rev. E. T. Hamel took charge. During his encumbrancy, in Jan- 
uary, 1884, a fire broke out in the church and did some damage. Mr. Hamel started 
what is known as the Woman's Auxiliary. He was followed in May, 1884, by the Rev. 
George F. Pratt. Up to this time the parish had received assistance from the Board of 
Missions to the amount of four hundred dollars annually, but during Mr. Pratt's ministry 
this was stopped, and the mission then became truly a parish, and her priest in charge 
then became a rector. The Sunday-school at this time reached its highest mark, I should 
judge, numbering, according to the accounts, about two hundred scholars. 

In March, 18S8, Mr. Pratt having left the Church of the Good Shepherd (and our 
ministry), the Rev. Thomas L. Fisher became rector. Plans had been in mind for some 
time to increase the size of the church, which was now eleven years old, and by Decem- 
ber g, 1889, what is now the nave was added, and in 1892, June 10, the chancel was dedi- 
cated, Bishop Brooks being present and confirming nineteen persons. It was about this 
time that the Junior Auxiliary was started. 

Mr. Fisher resigned in January, 1895, ^"'^ t^he Rev. S. B. Duffield acted as priest in 
charge for a year or so, when Rev. Lucien Rogers came to the parish. Mr. Rogers re- 
signed in the following year, his resignation taking effect Easter, 1897. 

This is a short, some would say, a dry, laconic account of a history of twenty-five 
years or so. A few among you present remember those first days. They were trying, 
and j-et interesting times. Sentiment, association, pains, joys, labors abundant, are con- 
nected with the corner-stone, the consecrations, the baptisms, the confirmations, the 
marriages, the burials, the communions. About the name of the church, the windows, 
'the aisles, the organ, the pulpit, the Sunday-school and guild-room, the choir and the 
vestry, the bible and the prayer-books, have clustered many an incident with sacred 
memories, all of which you know, and could tell me. Many of us, however, have not 
these associations. We are new members, usurpers, with other notions and ideals. But 
we are learning; we are passing from like to love, from acquaintance to friendship. The 
historical and the traditional of "The Good Shepherd" are interesting to us because they 
belong to the Christ of yesterday, and they are also interesting to us because they are 
written on your hearts, and are memories never to be effaced. 

And all this, like much in the sacred Scriptures, cannot be written or described in 
sermons. Such stories are for quiet chats and private conversation, for autobiographies, 
published memoirs and reminiscences. The all-absorbing theme for the pulpit of Jesus 
Christ is the story of Jesus Christ. How manj' things would we like to know in the early 
history of the life of our Lord? What became of Lazarus? Where did Saint Joseph 
die? What became of the Virgin Mary, when did she die, and where? What became of 
Saint Paul and Saint Peter? Had Saint Matthew and Saint Andrew no interesting tales 

36 



Methodist Episcopal Church. 

to tell like Saint Paul and Saint Peter? Did they not too suffer shipwreck or imprison- 
ment or torture or martyrdom? We read of reports and legends of the doings of the 
other apostles, but what Gibbon or Parkman or Motley will discover the true incidents in 
their lives and tell them to us in continuous story? I would like to hear Simon of 
Cyrcne also tell us his account of the crucifixion and how it affected him; I would like to 
listen to the centurion's impressions of the Nazarene, which he must have received as he 
watched the scenes of that terrible day; I would like to learn from the jailor at Philippi 
the events of that night when Saint Paul and his companions sang the praises of God; I 
would like to hear Pilate's account of the trial of Jesus Christ. What became of Simon 
of Cyrene and the jailor and the centurion and Pilate? Did the memories of those days 
change their lives? Did they — any of them — become "members of Christ, children of 
God, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven?" All this and much more besides we 
shall never know in this world, because the sole object of the church of God is to leave 
all details to a Boswell and herself to preach Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today 
and forever. He loves today as yesterday the lost sheep; He labors today as yesterday 
for the wayward, the sinner, the rejected, the outcast; He longs to gather, today as yes- 
terday, all within one fold, that there may be one shepherd. 

And what a beautiful name we have for our Church ! What's in a name, do you say? 
What's in any thing? The legend of Hawthorne tells us how a man was influenced by a 
stone face. Another legend tells us how Gregory the Great was induced to send mission- 
aries to Great Britain by the name of the slaves that he saw in the market place. Angles. 
Report has it that the paintings of Millais are changing the conditions of society. Are 
there not subtle influences in a white cloud, a blade of grass, and rill of water; in an 
empty chair, a lock of hair, and a faded leaf; in a word, a phrase, a name? All thanks to 
the person who suggested the name. Good Shepherd. This characteristic of our Lord's 
is one of the earliest in ecclesiastical art, in symbol and picture and carving. It goes 
back to the very first moments of Christian history, and perhaps as much as anything 
can, makes us aware of the fact that Jesus Christ is indeed the same yesterday, today, 
yea and forever. He never changes. Men change; their hearts grow cold; their faith 
grows weak; their ardor dampens; their enthusiasm cools; their strength fails. But 
somehow or other, after eighteen hundred years of the most terrible and fearful onslaughts 
from friend and foe, by sword and famine, by the pen and torture, the power of Jesus 
Christ in the world is greater than ever before. He uses the fickle, the timid, the wicked, 
the poor, the maimed, the impetuous, the faithless, and still the work goes on and spreads, 
and will spread until he hath put all enemies under his feet and hath delivered up the 
kingdom to God, even the Father, and God shall be all in all. 



METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

Sermon by the Pastor, Rev. A. Morrill Osgood. 

Text :• — Thou art worthy, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the honour and the power. 
— RfT. iv. II. 

The current ideas of Methodist theology were and are Justification by Faith, Assur- 
ance, and Sanctification. These doctrines, however, were not peculiar to Methodism. 
Justification by faith was the prominent doctrine of the Reformation. Its doctrines of 
the "Witness of the Spirit" and of " Sanctification" had been received substantially by 
all the leading churches of Christendom. Methodism differed from other religious 

37 



Methodist Episcopal Church. 

systems in respect to theology chiefly by giving greater prominence, more persistent incul- 
cation, to truths which they held in common, which were rendered incandescent bj- its 
spirit, and effective by its methods. The so called "Holy Club" was formed at Oxford 
in 1729, one hundred and seventy-one years ago, by John and Charles Wesley, and George 
Whitefield, who sought personal purification by prayer, watchings, fastings, alms, and 
Christian labors among the poor. "The Methodists," Wesley insisted, "were raised up 
to spread scriptural holiness over these lands." "I desire," he writes, "to have a league, 
offensive and defensive, with every soldier of Christ." The Methodist Church was a 
revival church in its spirit, a missionary church in its organization, and a philanthropic 
church in its relation to all the world. During the time from the beginning of Method- 
ism as a force in 1738, one hundred and sixty-two years ago, to the present time, the 
denomination has spread rapidly over Great Britain, into Scotland, into Ireland, to Nova 
Scotia, the United States, the West Indies, France, Africa, India, China, Japan, Mexico, 
South America and the Cannibal Islands of the Southern Ocean, and numbers today 
throughout the world twenty million adherents. 

On the lOth of August, 1760, one hundred and forty years ago, a vessel arrived safely 
in New York, having on board Philip Embury, a class-leader and local preacher, and a 
little band of Methodists, including Barbara Heck. Methodism in America began its 
meetings in the house of Embury upon Barrack Street, now Park Place, New York City, 
and the first congregation numbered si.x persons, including the minister. After singing 
and prayer, Philip Embury preached to them, and enrolled the five, the entire congrega- 
tion, in a class. He continued to meet them weekly. The little company soon grew too 
large for Embury's house, and hired a more commodious room in the neighborhood. In 
a few months there were two " classes," one of men, the other of women, including six or 
seven members each. No little excitement began soon to prevail m the city on account 
of these meetings, and they were thronged with spectators. 

In very much the same way, Methodism began to live in this town. Neighborhood 
meetings were held in the house of Henry Lewis on North Main Street as early as 1834. 
At the celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the dedication of the church edifice, 
in 1877, Mr. Lewis said he supposed he was the oldest professor of religion present, being 
nearly eighty years of age; he claimed to be the pioneer of Methodism in this town as the 
first Methodist sermon was preached in his own house. He said he had been trying for 
forty-four years to make an "amendment" to his theology by careful study of the Bible, 
and urged all to strive to live Christian lives, and to understand God's word, waiting in 
faith for the second coming of our Saviour. John H. Hall, another layman, formed a 
class which met regularly for about three years, with occasional preaching by Revs. E. F. 
Newell, Joseph A. Merrill and Orange Scott. Another enthusiastic layman at that time 
was John Burdett, Jr., who was of great assistance to the little band of Methodists. After 
a short time these meetings were resumed in 1842, beginning in the brick school-house 
on Main Street, built in 1824, and located near Mr. Frazer's coal office. So great oppo- 
sition arose to the use of the school-house for these meetings, they were in a short time 
held in private houses. 

In a few years, as the number of Methodists increased, these meetings were held 
with greater regularity until 1847, when several Methodists began holding meetings at 
the house of Mr. Coburn, a Wesleyan Methodist. From that time meetings have been 
held regularly. Revs. Horace Moulton, D. K. Merrill, C. W. Ainsworth, and Gardner 
Rice occasionally gave them a sermon. A little later these meetings were held at Charles 
B. Sherman's, near the old quilt mill bridge, and afterwards removed to L. B. Tinkham's, 

38 



\ 




%rMm 



'Earf^M.: 



METHODIST CHURCH AND PARSONAGE. 



Methodist Episcopal Church. 

on Nelson Street, and later still to the boarding-house of a Miss Heminway, who assumed 
temporarily the leadership of the class. In answer to their frequent prayers for a class- 
leader, George E. Harrington was divinely directed to remove from Lunenburg to Clin- 
ton, under whose efficient direction their numbers so increased that it became necessary 
to form a second class. Before the year cJosed they numbered thirty. 

In November, 1850, the first regular Methodist preaching on the Sabbath began, un- 
der the ministrations of Rev. Philip Toque (Tokay), a local preacher, appointed by 
Presiding Elder Phineas Crandall of the Worcester District. These services were held 
in "Attic," afterwards known as "Burdett's" Hall, corner of High and Union Streets, 
where a congregation was gathered and a Sunda\--school was organized in the autumn of 
1850. The names of the original charter members of the Clinton Methodist Church are : 
Henry Lewis, Charles B. Sherman, Leonard B. Tinkham, and their wives, and Mary A. 
Harris, afterwards Mrs. Mary A. Butler. The first stewards were George H. Foster, 
George E. Harrington and James Sherman; and the first trustees were Jonathan Weeks, 
George E. Harrington, Leonard B. Tinkham, George E. Goodale, Mark Andrews, Estes 
Wilson, and Francis A. Davidson. 

In 1851, the Ladies' Benevolent Association was organized. In April, 1851, Rev. 
George Bowler was appointed pastor, when the meetings were removed to Concert 
Hall on account of the increasing congregation, and this hall was soon filled to overflow- 
ing. A site was purchased for a church edifice at a cost of five hundred dollars. Although 
the building of a church edifice was planned during the pastorate of Rev. George Bowler, 
the actual work of building was done while Rev. T. Willard Lewis was in charge, during 
the summer and fall of 1852. There were associated with the pastor on the building 
committee, George E. Harrington and Francis A. Davidson. The cost was tour thousand 
dollars, and the edifice was completed in December and the dedication sermon was deliv- 
ered by Dr. Daniel Wise of Boston, editor of Zion's Herald. Rev. T. Willard Lewis also 
built for a parsonage the same year the house in the rear of the church, now occupied by 
Mr. John H. Rowell. In 1856, a tenement was constructed in the basement of the church 
edifice, which remained for twelve years. In 1867, the building was raised and a new 
foundation placed under it at an expense of thirteen hundred dollars. In April, 1868, a 
house was placed at the disposal of the societj' by Daniel Goss, to be used as a parsonage, 
and the property came into the possession of the church at his death in 1879. During 
1868-9, extensive repairs were completed in the edifice at an expense of three thousand 
dollars. In 1870, a new organ was placed in the church through the generosity of Mr. 
Daniel Goss. Further repairs were made in 1876. From 1885 to 1888, several important 
changes took place. The parsonage property of High Street was sold for seven thousand 
dollars, and two dwelling-houses on Pearl Street purchased for sixty-five hundred dollars. 
The tabernacle at the camp-ground was built at an expense of five hundred dollars, and 
extensive repairs were made in the church edifice at a cost of thirty-seven hundred dollars. 
Later, the houses on Pearl Street were sold, a lot purchased and parsonage erected at 162 
Water Street. In 1897-1900, sixteen hundred and eighteen dollars were expended in 
repairs. During the present year a legacy from the estate of Lucy R. Holden has been 
received, which, according to present indications, will equal nineteen hundred dollars. 
With an indebtedness on church property of six hundred and twenty dollars, and about 
two hundred and eighty dollars additional indebtedness, the finances of the church show 
a balance in the treasury of about one thousand dollars; with real estate consisting of a 
society house at Sterling camp-ground, a parsonage at 162 Water Street, and a church 
edifice, all in very good condition. 

(4) 39 



Methodist Episcopal Chufch. 

The present membership of the church is two hundred and thirty-eight members in 
full, and fifty-three probationers. During the nearly fifty years of the history of the 
church about one thousand have been received as probationers, an average of twenty per 
year; five hundred and thirty-seven have been admitted to full membership from proba- 
tion, and five hundred and forty-five have been received by certificate, showing a total 
number of ten hundred and eighty-two accessions to full membership, an average of over 
twentj' per year. During the same time, five hundred and fifty-nine have been baptized, 
about eleven per year. 

True to her nature, the Methodist Church in Clinton has been like the denomination 
throughout the world — revival in spirit, missionary in organization, and philanthropic in 
its relation to all the world. Devoted to general participation in prayer and testimony, 
in neighborhood class and prayer services, the church has been greatly blessed with many 
consecrated laymen, loyal;' conscientious men and women, who have stood by the society 
amid storm and sunshine. The records tell us of the enthusiasm and power in exhorta- 
tion and prayer of George E. Harrington, Daniel Houghton, George H. Foster, James F. 
Maynard, John H. Rovvell, Ephraim Hunt and Francis A. Davidson, assisted by their 
equally devoted wives, and such elect women as Betsy Cutting, Mary Ann Eveleth, Lucy 
Sawyer, Betsy Flood and Carrie Bixby. Later, came A. B. Turner, E. P. Whitaker, A. 
W. Lowe, John D. Brigham, and their wives, all of whom were of great service to the 
church. Some of her sons are ministers of the gospel: Rev. E. S. Lewis of the Cincin- 
nati Conference, stationed at Columbus, Ohio, and Rev. John Mason of the New England 
Conference, stationed at South Hadley Falls, Massachusetts. Three of her young men 
— Edward R. Leslie, Perry H. Murdick and Thomas Harrower — are preparing to enter 
the ministry. 

The Sunday-school, as we have seen, was organized in tne autumn of 1850, with 
George E. Harrington as superintendent, who served for about three and a half years, 
and was succeeded by the following persons, who respectively occupied the position of 
superintendent: James F. Maynard, April, 1854-1865; E. P. Whitaker, April, 1865-1868; 
George. H. Foster, April, 1868-1870; Joshua Freeman, April, 1870-January, 1872; E. P. 
Whitaker, January, 1872-1873; George F. Houghton, January, 1873-1875; Charles R. 
Chamberlain, January, 1875-March 25, 1877; John F. Keyes, March 25, 1877-December 
25, i88o; C. E. Copp, 1880-1885; F. P. Sawyer, 1885-1887; E. S. Butler, January 2, 1887- 
December 20, 1888; G. D. Gunn, December 30, 1888-April 7, 1889; J. W. Chase, May 12, 
1889-December 27, 1891; H. P. Sawyer, December 27, 1891-December, 1893; L. V. Bailey, 
1893-July, 1895; ^- H. Booth, October, 1895, ^^ present time. The present membership 
of the Sunday-school is two hundred and ninety-five, including thirty-eight officers and 
teachers. 

The Ladies' Benevolent Association was organized, as above mentioned, in 1851, with 
Mrs. Ann C. Bowler as president, and has done very efficient service in attending to occa- 
sional demands for aid in supplying church and parsonage with carpets and furniture; in 
contributing money for the support of the church; and in sustaining the social activities 
of the church. Its monthly social gatherings have continued to the present time an occa- 
sion for very general appreciation. 

Clinton's wide-awake young Methodists, always a strong force in co-operation with 
the church and Sunday-school, banded themselves together January 3, 1889, under the 
name of The Young People's Christian League. A preliminary meeting had been held, 
however, at the close of the church prayer-meeting, December 26, 1888, looking toward 
the organization. Loyalty to the church actuated the members of the League then, and 

40 



Methodist Episcopal Chorcti. 

the same lofty sentiment inspires the members now. The number of members in the 
beginning was thirty-eight. Before the society was many months old, the movement 
uniting in one all the young people's societies in the Methodist Church had created wide- 
spread enthusiasm among our young folks everywhere; and Clinton catching the inspira- 
tion, the name of the society was changed to"Epworth League, Flora Chapter 588," 
taking its name from its president. Miss Flora Toulmin. The League has continued to 
prosper under the leadership of Dr. A. C. Reed, Miss Flora Toulmin, John S. Allen, Mrs. 
James Mudge, S. H. Harran, Erastus Pierce, B. H. Booth, S. M. Church, and J. W. Pow- 
ell, and numbers at the present time one hundred and fifteen active and thirty-seven 
associate members. The League has a vigorous junior department under the superin- 
tendency of Mrs. M. A. Osgood. 

The Woman's Home and Foreign Missionary Societies connected with the church 
have enjoyed a useful and far-reaching influence, in contributions to urgent demands for 
aid from the home and foreign field, and have proved valuable educators in creating an 
interest in the cause of Christ in other portions of our own country and in other lands. 

The following have served the church as pastors, the average length of a pastorate 
being a little less than two years: Rev. Philip Toque, 1850-51; Rev. George Bowler, 
1851-52; Rev. T.Willard Lewis, 1852-54; Rev. Augustus F. Bailey, 1854-55; Rev. Newell 
S. Spaulding, 1855-57; Rev. Daniel K. Merrill, 1857 (8 mos.); Rev. Willard F. Mallalieu, 
1857-58 (4 mos.); Rev. William J. Pomfret, 1858-60; Rev. Thomas B. Treadwell, 1860-61 ; 
Rev. Albert Gould, 1861-63; Revs. J. P. Coolidge and W. G. Leonard, 1863-64; Rev. E. 
■ F. Hadley, 1864-65; Rev. E.S.Chase, 1865-67; Rev. Frederick T.George, 1867-68; Rev. 
Joseph W. Lewis, 1868-70; Rev. William R. Braman, 1870-73: Rev. A. C. Godfrey, 1873- 
74; Rev. V. M. Simons, 1874-77; Rev. W. M. Ayres, 1877-80; Rev. C. H. Hanaford, 
1880-82; Rev. Albert Gould, 1882-85; Rev. J. N. Short, 1885-88; Rev. M. E.Wright, 
1888-89; Rev. W. B. Toulmin, 1889-91 ; Rev. James Mudge, 1891-94; Rev. Harvey H. 
Paine, 1894-97; Rev. A. Morrill Osgood, 1897- 

The official members of the church at the present time are as follows: Resident 
Bishop, Rev. W. F. Mallalieu, D. D.; Presiding Elder, Rev. J. H. Mansfield, D. D.; Pas- 
tor, Rev. A. M. Osgood, A. M.; Local Preacher, Perry H. Murdick; Exhorter, Edward R. 
Leslie; Class Leaders, J. Potter, B. H. Booth, S. M. Church, E. S. Butler, S. H. Harran, 
W. J. Ferry; President of Epworth League, J. W. Powell; Stewards, B. H. Booth, H. T. 
Bray, J. R. Stott, N. S. Davis, H. W. Dudley, W. J. Ferry, S. H. Harran, J. H. Rowell, R. 
W. Flinn, S. F. Hamilton, J. W. Lewis, Mrs. Hattie E. Sawyer, J. P. Watson; Trustees, 
S. D. Allen, F. S. Barrows, A. H. Dudley, F. C. Harwood, A. W. Lowe, C. H. Peters, F. 
P. Sawyer, J. M. Sawyer, J. L. Signor. 

The relations of the church with sister churches in Clinton have been cordial, and 
she has stood with them shoulder to shoulder against the forces of evil in the community. 
Her pulpit has uttered no uncertain sound on questions of temperance and reform. 
When our country required her services during the civil war in 1861 and the Spanish war 
in 1898, she was represented by some of her noble sons. Her response to appeals 
for aid from famine-stricken peoples the world over has been generous, and her regular 
contributions to the various benevolences have been large. At the twenty-fifth anniver- 
sary of the dedication of the church edifice in 1877, the early experience of the society 
was summarized as follows: "This church, like all others, has e.xperienced many vicissi- 
tudes in its history. Sometimes circumstances have been unfavorable and discourage- 
ments have seemed almost unsurmountable; but a few faithful, heroic ones pushed on 

41 



First Baptist Chucch. 

amid the gathering gloom, 'till, with the blessing of the Lord, they came out of the 
cloud into the sunshine of prosperity." 

The spirit, organization and practice of Methodism in Clinton have secured for this 
branch of Christ's church an honorable position in the community. While many who 
were once connected with the church have passed onward to their heavenly reward, a 
goodly number yet remain — some efificient members of other denominations, some residing 
in the different portions of the country, while others, brave, loyal and faithful consti- 
tute the membership of the church today. Not unto us be the glory, for " Worthy 
art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the honour and the power." 



FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. 

Sermon by Rev. Charles M. Bowers, D. D. 
Pastor 1847-1886. 

Te.xt: — Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase. For enquire, I 
pray thee, of the former age, or apply thyself to that which their fathers have searched out. — Job viii, 7, 8. 

When manufacturing and business start a new town in Massachusetts our Congrega- 
tionalist brethren, by a kind of "eminent domain," must needs be first in ecclesiastical 
possession of the locality. They number now six hundred churches in the Common- 
wealth, with a grand total of one hundred and forty thousand members. It requires but 
a small overflow from so powerful a body into any promising district or place to make 
the church that is first in time first also in numbers, means, influence and attractiveness. 
Baptists rejoice in the Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Leviticus and Numbers of Ortho- 
dox Congregationalism in the towns and cities of old Massachusetts. We rejoice in the 
stability and virility of its doctrinal position and its matchless service in the cause of 
education and missions in the world. 

But as long as good and saintly men continue to wear the ancient ecclesiastical 
clothes of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, which Paul declared should be wholly laid aside for 
a better outfit, it will be necessary for a kind of Baptist Congregationalists to follow with 
a protest and introduce their neighbors to the better garments of a later heavenly make 
in Christ Jesus. The two kinds of Congregationalists are not far apart, and in Clinton 
the fact is happily symbolized by their houses of worship being so near together as to be 
not separated, but united by a school-house, so that if one is bounded on the south by an 
educational institution, the other is bounded equally on the north by the same, and edu- 
cation and religion thus put both in happy fellowship. 

The Baptist Church was the second church organized in the territory now called 
Clinton, and recognized by Council duly called in 1S47, three years before the incorpora- 
tion of the town. Its distinctive principles are: — The Bible as against all tradition and 
human authority — The original Scriptures to be honestly translated in missionary fields 
of foreign lands — Christ head over all things to the church — The church composed of 
regenerated members — Each separate church independent in itself without the control of 
any outside power — The church wholly of New Testament origin — The ordinances as 
administered by inspired apostles — The certainty of infant salvation — The absolute rights 
of conscience above all laws ecclesiastical or civil — and finally, No forms or ceremonies 
essential to salvation, however essential they may be to give meaning, direction and 
efficiency to true church life. Contrary to popular prejudice a Baptist never believes 
that any kind of baptism is essential to salvation, or that any kind of church membership 

42 



First Baptist Church. 

is. While there are many things important as adjuncts in reaching the best results in 
certain higher things, this docs not necessarily involve any saving quality in them. 

The Baptist Church might have ranked first in the order of time had it not been 
for the failure in 1835 of a movement begun in 18 16 when a few families of Bapt- 
ist principles, together with those who revolted against the injustice of be- 
ing taxed to support the worship of the "standing order" in Lancaster Cen- 
ter with which they did not sympathize, took measures to be organized into a 
religious society to be known as the Baptist Society of Lancaster, and to maintain 
the "sentiments held by the Warren Association." It would appear from the records of 
this society that most of the voters of that day in the southerly part of the town must 
have been at one time or another members of this body. The first meeting of the society 
was held March 16, 1816, in a school-house south of the Nashua River, when a constitu- 
tion was adopted and parish ofificers were elected. Elder Luther Goddard was engaged 
to preach once a month, and Elder Thomas Marshall once a month. Elder Goddard was 
a jeweller and repairer of watches in Worcester, and in his preaching expeditions he fre- 
quently carried home some of the watches cf his hearers which were afflicted with back- 
sliding or watch depravity, and so aided them with double advantage in keeping better 
time in the soul and in the watch-pocket. Charles Chace, grandfather of our present 
brother Charles, was chosen treasurer of the society, and John Burditt, clerk. From that 
time to 1835, the society held annual meetings regularly, appointed committees on sub- 
scriptions for preaching, and maintained worship in private houses or school buildings 
as they could obtain the services of acceptable ministers. The dwelling of Charles Chace 
was the usual place of the parish meetings, and from 1817 to 1829 the records have no 
account of any such meeting in a school-house. The records of this now extinct society 
are valuable as showing how much good men like Charles Chace, Alanson Chace, Cor- 
nelius Moore, John Burditt, Levi Howard, Benjamin Holt (a son-in-law of the distin- 
guished theologian and preacher. Dr. Baldwin of Boston), and others attempted to do to 
establish and maintain evangelical worship in a section of the town, when the original 
light at the centre had gone out in darkness. An effort was made even to raise money 
to build a meeting-house, but most of the people in "South Woods," as the district was 
often called, were of too limited means for such an enterprise. If this plan had succeeded 
the Baptists would have had the honor of establishing the fii-st church in what is now Clin- 
ton, as they do have the distinction of being first in organizing a society to maintain Sab- 
bath worship. The great obligation our present church is under to the true men we have 
mentioned, for the seed of Baptist principles they sowed with earnest purpose in this 
locality, should preserve their memory amongst us as a most precious inheritance. To 
forget the Chaces and Burditts of seventy years ago would be like heartless children for- 
getting the parents that gave them being. May the church never lack such names in its 
roll of membership. 

When at the close of 1846 our Congregationalist brethren left the chapel they had 
been holding worship in for their new and commodious meeting-house, the Baptists made 
a second attempt to establish worship by succeeding to the use of said chapel, and on the 
first Sunday ot January, 1847, they began their new religious enterprise with more faith 
and works than means, which has finally resulted, as the place grew in population and 
business, in their present degree of prosperity. The first clerg)man chosen as their 
leader declined the call, but the invitation to another secured acceptance. At this time 
the Fitchburg church reported a membership of two hundred and forty-eight, West Boyl- 
ston, two hundred and twenty-two, and Harvard, one hundred and one. These figures 

43 



First Baptist Church. 

show what advantage certain churches had in the Wachusett Association in working 
force over a church in the feebleness of its birth. Our beginning was small enough, tor 
at the constitution of the church, April 24, 1847, only seventeen persons were joined to-~ 
gether in faith and fellowship as the First Baptist Church of Lancaster. If the church 
should bear a human name it would deserve to be called the Burdett Baptist Church of 
Clinton; for of the seventeen original members nine bore the good name of Burdett. Dr. 
Burdett, who had settled in the village as a physician, became the first clerk, and contin- 
ued in this service for about fiftj' years and to within a short period of his death. It is 
delightfully fitting that another Burdett should be his successor in the office, and we 
devoutly pray he may have fifty years of like distinction. Of the seventeen, five still 
remain on earth, one our venerable brother, Thomas Burdett, another the devoted lover 
of the church, Mrs. Elizabeth, widow of Dr. Burdett, another our aged sister, Mrs. Har- 
riet Morgan, in feeble health in Sterling, another, one of the earlier leaders of our choir, 
Frederic W. Burdett, whose home is in one of the western states, and another, our cheer- 
ful brother Otis H. Kendall, who has come from California to be with us in the jubilee 
celebration of the town. Good cheer to him that we greet him once more in his old 
church home of many years. 

The first year of the church had hardly ended before the poor accommodations of 
the chapel made it necessary to think of building a proper meeting-house, but the ques- 
tion of means was a fearful question. Yet the Lord gave us Alanson Chace and George 
Cummihgs to lead in generous subscriptions; others of smaller means were encouraged 
to follow, and the combined gifts, with contributions from neighboring churches and 
individuals, provided a neat and comfortable sanctuary at a cost of six thousand dollars, 
with a seating capacity of four hundred and fifty worshippers. This house was dedicated 
in 1849. In 1867, or eighteen years after, the church had so increased in numbers that a 
larger house seemed a necessity, and a new structure by reconstruction and addition was 
obtained, which, with the organ, cost about eleven thousand dollars, and gave sittings for 
a congregation of six hundred. The new building was dedicated in 1868. 

Twenty-five more years passed away, and it seemed in the judgment of many that 
with a very popular and attractive preacher we should join the attractions of a still better 
house. Human nature takes very kindly to human nature, and our third provision for 
worship in less than fifty years resulted in the beautiful, commodious and well arranged 
house in which we are now gathered. Besides, the church had grown in means as well 
as human nature. And so we have today not only beauty of form and ornamentation all 
around us, but some specialties of convenience or inconvenience which surpass the like- 
ness of anything known before. Our pulpit has left its throne and our large Bible 
descended to a lower level. Our communion table has retired from sight and speaks no 
more to the eye of the worshippers. But we do have a fine temple for luxurious worship 
obtained by a generous outlay of twenty-seven thousand dollars, more than one quarter 
of which has come from a benevolent and free-hearted ofificer of the church. May heav- 
en's blessing abide upon him. It is a rare thing that a church provides for itself three 
houses of worship in less than fifty years. 

In the first arrangement of pastor and people extending to two score years save one, 
the church carried on its work with singular growth and success. Revivals were com- 
mon, and it was almost uncommon not to have one. In one year the church reported 
sixty-five baptisms as the result of its work, a thing without parallel among Baptist 
churches in this region. In ten or twelve of the thirty-nine years more baptisms rewarded 
the activity of the church than were enjoyed by any other church in the Association, and 

44 




FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. 



First Baptist Church. 

twice at least in the annual returns the church reported more than in all the other 
churches together. Three of the four present deacons were brought into our fellowship 
during that period; several of those who became Sunday-school superintendents were 
among its converts; three persons were licensed to preach: Charles W. Walker, Charles 
A. Bowers and Charles Reekie; two sisters went out in missionary service, and four hun- 
dred and sixty-two souls were added to us by a public confession of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. These things are given, not as glorifying the consecration of the church, but 
only as among the blessed items in its history. And while we had risen from the small- 
est beginning to the second body in number in the twenty churches of the Association, 
and though our associational historian, Dea. Bradford of Fitchburg, had done us the 
honor to say, the Clinton church is the most influential church in the whole Association, 
yet we humbly confess that up to 1886, we had not done all that our responsibility re- 
quired in our day and generation. Perhaps a different leader might have aided the 
church in some way to make its labor even more fruitful. It has seemed a mystery to 
himself, the church servant of that day, that his life has been continued to speak to you 
at this hour, instead of having his present address on a little white stone in a cemetery 
bit of real estate. 

When in 1886 it became necessary for the church to have a second pastor, the choice 
fell on Rev. Hiram Kallock Pervear, a minister of fine record in our state, who had with 
marked ability served in four important pastorates. Three of the pulpits he had filled 
ranked high in the denomination and had given Brother Pervear a pleasant reputation 
among his brethren. Dr. Pervear was born in Roxbury, now Boston, July 16, 1831. He 
studied in Worcester Academy to prepare for college, entered Brown University in 185 1, 
and after finishing the full course of four years, went to Newton Theological Institution 
to complete his preparation for the ministry. He was ordained in Roxbury in 1857. Of 
nearly thirty-five years of service in the ministry before coming to Clinton, eight years 
were given to East Cambridge, eight years to First Worcester, seven years to First Cam- 
bridge, six and one-half years to First New Bedford. His work has thus been wholly in 
our state, and that he has served such leading churches honors it with no small distinc- 
tion. He has proved himself a safe, conservative preacher, a wise expounder of the 
Word, a hearty defender of sound doctrine and a fine example of the dignity and influ- 
ence of the pulpit. In 1899, he received from Acadia College the well merited degree of 
Doctor of Divinity. During his labors in the churches mentioned he gathered many 
souls into the kingdom, and one fact deserves special mention, that in one of the years 
while he was pastor at the First Cambridge he baptised the large number of ninetj'-three 
persons, a record which few ministers have the privilege of making. His five years with 
us brought forty by profession into the church. 

Our third pastor was the popular and much beloved Rev. Willard Emmet Waterbury. 
He was born in Hastings, Oswego County, New York, March 7, 1858. His special edu- 
cation preparatory to the ministry was received in the Collegiate Institute, Elbridge, 
New York, and the University of Rochester. Before assuming the charge of a church, 
however, he entered upon Young Men's Christian Association work at Concord, New 
Hampshire, in which he continued a year and a half. In 1884, he was called to take 
charge of the church in Hopkinton, New Hampshire, in which place he was ordained, 
and where he labored three years. In 1887, he was invited to become the pastor of the 
Carew Street Church, Springfield, Massachusetts, and with this people he remained in 
service five years. In 1S92, under the pressure of a most urgent call, he came to Clinton, 

45 



First Baptist Church. 

and in the four and one-half years of his administration in holy things added one hun- 
dred and forty-six persons to the church by baptism. In 1897, '^^ returned to Springfield 
to enter again upon Young Men's Christian Association work, from which he resigned, 
however, in a few months, and then, in the co-operative work of the Baptist churches of 
the city, became missionary pastor with special appointments at Benton Street and Bel- 
mont Avenue. In the latter place a church has been organized, and in the remarkable 
growth and prospects of the work a church edifice will shortly be erected for the greater 
convenience of the body of which he is now the devoted pastor without any divided min- 
istration. Brother Waterbury is remarkably gifted with the qualities that ensure success. 
He is the incarnation of geniality and graciousness. He has a happy gift of ready ex- 
pression, an aptness to teach and a perfect command of himself on the platform. His 
manner of address is winsome, his doctrine without severity, and he could even make the 
ten commandments sweet to the taste. As a public speaker he is agreeable both to see 
and hear, and as one good woman expressed it, he was the most graceful speaker she 
ever listened to. In the four and one-half years he labored in Clinton he was a general 
favorite with all classes. 

Our fourth and the present pastor is Rev. Archibald Sangster Brown. He was born 
in Litchfield, Pennsylvania, July i, 1S44. After enjoying the advantages of a fine busi- 
ness education he removed to Hartford, Connecticut, in 1870, where he built up a pros- 
perous hardware business, and became also an active member of Dr. Crane's church. 
Developing the qualities that make a public speaker, he heard the call of God in 1881 to 
give himself to the preaching of the gospel. He took a course of systematic theology in 
Hartford, and in 1885 became pastor, while still in business, of the Baptist Church in 
Rockville, being ordained in Hartford, November 4, of the same year. With this people 
he labored two years, raising funds to build a meeting-house, superintending the work, 
and largely adding to the membership and the prosperity of the church in all ways. 
While in the work of church building he received a call to the Carew Street Church, Spring- 
field, which he did not accept, for he was carrj'ing the double burden of the Rockville 
Church and his business also. The call from Springfield was shortly again extended and 
again declined. When he closed his labors with the Rockville Church after two years, 
he supplied the church in Granville, this state, for a year and one-half, and though invited 
to become their pastor he did not deem it expedient to do so. He gave up his business, 
however, and devoted his whole time to their interests, lifting them out of their financial 
and spiritual depression into great enlargement and prosperity. A revival also was 
enjoyed, which added a large number to the church. In 1889, he was called to take 
charge of the First Baptist Church in Norwich, and in a form exceptionally flattering. 
Connected with the ofificial statement of the call was a roll of one hundred prominent 
members of the parish, whose signatures emphasized the strong desire felt for his accept- 
ance. He began his work there in October, which work during nearly eight years was 
marked by evident tokens of the divine favor. Over one hundred and fifty baptisms 
gave fresh strength and cheer to the church. In 1897, April i, we succeeded in winning 
him from Norwich to become our teacher and leader. He brought with him the great 
advantage of his business experience, which may have much to do with his reaching men 
and families in the daily walks of life. He has shown us how one may put effective busi- 
ness qualities in preaching — a living purpose, persevering labor, the taking hold and never 
letting go. His ministry is his one particular life during the week and on the Sabbath. 
Within the period of his service up to date he has led into the church through baptism 

46 



First Baptist Church. 

fortj'-nine souls. His earnestness of effort and untiring devotion to the interests of the 
unsaved promise most desirable results for the future. 

No men could be more unlike in general characteristics than the four men who have 
served the church fifty-three j^ears, and we can understand how different qualities and 
conditions may work to the same end and finely explain the apostle's word, "There are 
diversities of gifts but the same spirit, and there are differences of administration but the 
same Lord. And there are diversities of operations but it is the same God which work- 
eth all in all." The church has certainly not lacked in the pulpit of the last dozen )-ears 
the qualities that win souls. 

Among the things that maybe mentioned as having largely contributed to such pros- 
perity as the church has been permitted to enjoy, are the following: 

1. The good work in our Sabbath-school. This department of our labor has had the 
vigorous and prayerful leadership of eighteen different superintendents. A history of 
the various schools in the Association prepared and published sometime previous to iSSo, 
uses the following language in regard to the school in Clinton: "Our school has had in 
some respects a remarkable history. Of eleven superintendents but three have died dur- 
ing the period following the organization of the school. In ten of the years we have 
reported the largest number of baptisms, and that too when in nine years of our history 
we were united with the schools of the Worcester Association. In more than two-thirds 
of the years we have rejoiced in some conversions. We have never had in the variety of 
our gifts a poor superintendent." When it is possible to mention such names as those of 
Martin, Kittredge, Walker, Smith, Burdett, Dr., Phillips, Greeley, Burditt, A. A., Thissell, 
Ingalls, Marsh, and later on, Keyes, Stowell, Burdett, Edw,, Heighway, Fay, Childs and 
Estabrook, we have reason for the greatest gratitude for the rich supply of material given 
us to manage well the trust involved in the Sabbath-school. Nor should it be overlooked 
that in the grading of infant and junior departments we have had most devoted and effi- 
cient leaders among some of the sisters of the church. The history of the school is in 
some respects without any parallel in the Association. 

2. Another fact should be mentioned as having contributed to our prosperity, the 
constant desire of the church for revival blessings. Not that the entire church with an)- 
frequency has been lifted to the highest exaltation of prayer for such a manifestation of 
power, nor that the motive prompting the wish may have been of the purest quality 
throughout, but very few churches have had the word "revival" with some honest mean- 
ing to it more in the heart and on the tongue than ours. In this yearning every pastor 
has sympathized and endeavored to encourage us. It would not have been possible for 
the church to have had in so short a history nearly seven hundred persons added to it by 
baptism if there had not been in the portion of the body that makes the real church much 
fellowship in revival work. 

3. Still another point in our church prosperit)' should be mentioned, the strong re- 
gard of the ministry and people for the unadulterated word. We have tried to adhere to 
the doctrinal Bible of Christ and the apostles. We have not found it necessary to put 
the speculation of man in the place of the voice of God. Nothing yet that we have heard 
of has been able to make so Christ-like a man as the exact Christ-like word. Criticism ! 
Christ is our criticism and interpretation of scripture. We have not called in question 
Christ's belief in sacrificial salvation, or blood preciousness, or regeneration, or penalt)' 
for sin and rejection of the Holy Spirit. It astonishes us that a certain clergyman 
can teach the need of a new hymnology, a new conception of Christian piety, a new 
church and new thinkers to guide us; in fact, a change in the whole environment of the 

47 



First Baptist Church. 

Christian life, and then emploj' an evangelist of the New Testament style of belief to 
preach a different set of views to secure a revival. There never was a church built on a 
denial of Christ's New Testament that was worth having in the world or that had Christ's 
way of prosperity. What this church is today is through the New Testament Christ, not 
some reconstructed Christ of man. Salvation to make a church must all be in Christ. 
This explains in part our condition today. 

4. A further point in the prosperity of the church deserves mention, the peaceful 
management of all affairs by those who have had an official or controlling influence in 
the church and society. A people that can hold in service a church clerk fifty years, 
certain deacons thirty years, a church treasurer thirty-three years, Sunday-school super- 
intendents in some cases eight or ten years — that never had discordant notes with its 
various choirs, nor quarreled with any building contractors or janitors — that allowed its 
ministers to set aside the pulpit and pulpit Bible without a murmur, surely had truly 
found the blessed way of holding the fort without any conflict or shedding a drop of 
spiritual blood. We can proudly mention our deacons: Burditt, the honest adventist; 
Walker, the symbol of sturdy independence; Gibson, the model of meekness; Smith, the 
unassuming helper; Thissell, the strong example of church loyalty; Greeley, the illustra- 
tion of calm principle; Ingalls, who dares to be a Daniel on occasions and stop the mouth 
of lions; and Weeks, the modest, courteous brother, as men who have contributed to keep- 
ing up a peaceful atmosphere in the church by trying to promote the conditions that 
make for harmony. We never had any despotic tempers to interfere with the quiet of 
our Zion. 

5. But finally and above all, we have had among the contributions to our prosperity 
all along in our history a devoted and efficient corps of noble women. They have not 
been merely members of a church built up by men, they have been largely themselves in 
the construction. We should hardly have half the strength of today but that our Debo- 
rahs and Huldahs and Priscillas and Joannas and Brother Philip's daughters have known 
how to be saints of the hustling order. When the first meeting-house was built it had no 
lecture room or vestry. Our midweek meetings were held in the ample dining-rooms of 
the large boarding-houses. In the early days of our worship there was hardly any foreign 
help in the mills. The operatives were mostly of American birth, daughters of well-to- 
do farmers, some of good education, some had been teachers of country schools, and 
nearly all had the best instincts of true womanhood and ladj'-like refinement. As an 
illustration of the kind of workers at that time or soon after, three daughters from one 
family were with us whose father when he died, died leaving an estate of ninety thousand 
dollars. One of the daughters married a clergyman who was settled at one time in the 
literary city of Cambridge; another married a gentleman of considerable fortune. I never 
attended any prayer-meetings of greater interest and power than some of those in the 
large boarding-houses. The women showed the intelligence and ability of minds elevated 
by the Holy Spirit. From the beginning to now we have always been favored with a 
supply of earnest, intelligent Lydias, and what John calls a kind of "elect lady." To a 
certain extent women furnish the best life to a church. A church of men would almost 
degenerate into an ice-house. Paul in the twelfth of Romans tells us he could not have 
been the same Paul without the remarkable women who were ready to die in his and their 
work. Christ as a human teacher could not have been the same Christ without woman's 
co-operation. The Bible is especially woman's book. Pentecost would not have been 
fully Pentecost without praying women. Many wonders in scripture are the wonders of 
female men. Dr. Weston once said of a former member of this church who became a 

48 



German Church. 

member of his church in Worcester, "She is the best man I have in my church." The 
Bible says the woman is the glory of the man. When you want an organ call in a woman, 
or carpets, call in a woman; when you want help in temperance or the Grand Arm}' or 
the Young Men's Christian Association or in the missionary cause, call in a woman. This 
church has done a vast deal of good living that way. When God made woman it is said 
he made her by taking a rib of Adam; when now He makes a great miracle-working man 
He does it by taking part of a woman's heart to make him of. When He commissioned 
Samson to do his mighty deeds He made him much like a woman by giving him very 
long womanly hair. When he lost his long hairy endowment he became Samson minus 
Samson. The greatest man that ever lived is the Virgin Mary. Church women work in 
wings, men in their feet, and sometimes lame at that. No woman would ever have made 
such a mess of it as Peter and Judas and the other ten. The best religion is rather femi- 
nine on the whole, and by this kind our church has been much increased. We can use 
with great propriety the poetic word : 

"They talk about a woman's sphere, 
As though it had a limit ; 
There's not a place in earth or heaven, 
There's not a task to mankind given. 
There's not a blessing or a woe. 
There's not a whisper yes or no, 
There's not a life or death or birth 
That has a feather's weight of worth, 
Without a woman in it." 

Did time permit it would be pleasant to refer to the influence of the Christian 
Endeavor Society on church prosperity. The name alone testifies to its value as a helper 
in church work — "Endeavor;" this with the vigor of youth makes a combination of holy 
power that has often put a new spirit into a church. Our Endeavor Society has proved 
a force of special virtue. Then our mission societies and other Christian organizations 
have contributed their quota of power to the life of the church. 

The membership of the church June 13, 1900, shows the goodly figure of three hun- 
dred and ninety-two. Today we are represented all over the country by those who have 
gone from us with the blessings of the salvation they found while with us. 

What for the next half century? Shall we be an increasing power here and else- 
where? Shall we be a chuich of higher purpose and holier living and closer following of 
the Master? The Thessalonians were described by Paul as " the church in God the Father 
and the Lord Jesus Christ." Let us be that and we shall do something towards changing 
the condition of the whole world. Our responsibility is as glorious as are our opportuni- 
ties and possibilities. 



GERMAN CHURCH. 

Sermon by the Pastor, Rev. F. C. F. Scherff. 

Text: — The rich and poor meet together; the Lord is the maker of them all. — Prov. xxii, 2. 

Man as an individual, in family, community or nation, shows, the same traits. Like 
the traveler, who on his ascent of a high, mountainous elevation from time to time stops, 
looks back and around in order to take in the view, to notice every change and to see 
how much he has advanced, so also does man on his journey through life in the various 
relations which he holds in family, community or nation. A child lives in the present, 

43 



German Church. 

but soon, within a few j'ears, deals in futures, which tendency continues to grow intensely 
in the young man and woman. But when the height of life has been reached, he begins 
to look back, and he roams through the years of his life and often draws lessons from the 
past experiences. This is our case today. We are celebrating today in all the churches, 
and will celebrate during the week in the community at large, Clinton's Semi-Centennial. 
To this end I have chosen from»Scripture Prov. xxii, 2, on which to base the thoughts in 
regard to the subject of the day. 

First. God is in the history of an individual's life as surely as he manifests himself 
in the history of a community. In scripture and history we find many illustrations for 
our first thought. It was the individual which found divine recognition and which was 
made the vehicle to transmit divine favor and blessings unbounded to the many. It is the 
Christian era which shows forth this truth progressively, more especially from the time 
of the Reformation. What currents of light and life, the invention of the art of print- 
ing, the use of steam and of machinery furnished to the human race! Vast and over- 
whelming were the revolutionizing changes wrought by these events during the last cen- 
tury, both in the moral and physical sphere of man! America became a refuge 
and home to the oppressed' in all the nations of the earth — a home which, in its various 
aspects and conditions, radiated forth blessings to the homelands, the end of which is 
not yet. Clinton is a unit in the sum total; America, home of the nations of the earth 
by "divine reckoning." 

Fifty years ago Clinton was a small, insignificant village with few inhabitants. Since 
then it has grown to be a town of such a size that it might become a cit)', with city gov- 
ernment, if that was deemed best. The once sleepy little village has changed into a wide- 
awake town, at the center of which are enormous manufacturing interests, namely: the Lan- 
caster Mills, covering about sixteen acres; the Bigelow Carpet Mills and the Wire Cloth 
Mills, each covering about fourteen acres; to which of late the Rodger's Mill has been 
added. We ask at this time, by what strange accident has such a marvellous change 
been brought about? Was it accident? I say no! I believe, and you with me believe, 
in the all-providing Father above us, of whom it is said in the good book, that He cares 
for the sparrows but far more for man. At the bottom of this change we find a young 
man who had an idea in his head, the building of a steam power loom, which before it 
had been given birth came near wrecking that young inventor in body and mind. Com- 
ing from out of modest circumstances, he found it exceedingly difficult even after having 
solved the problem of his invention, to enlist the necessary financial support in order to 
realize upon it. In his brother, who had the talent of an organizer, was given 
him a co-laborer most needed to the successful development of the invention. The cap- 
ital was at last found and the new enterprise launched, which in its natural course brought 
good returns to the starters, and became also the means to furnish bread to thousands of 
industrious hands these many years. 

Also the Germans entered among these many thousands by divine providence. If they 
came for bread, yet they yielded more to the communit)' than thej' received. They fur- 
nished skilled labor, life and blood in the struggle of this land to maintain the Union and 
helped to increase the wealth of this community. In due time the}' may, by divine help, 
furnish more. God's plan to weld the nations of the earth into one nation on this new 
continent, and to have this new nation stand out boldly before the nations of the earth 
as an object lesson, means much to me for the Germans, and swells my heart also with 
hopes for the Clinton Germans. There is a talent entrusted to each nation, and there is 

SO 




k.. 







THE CLINTON HOSPITAL. 




THE GERMAN VILLAGE. 



German Church. 

one in the German, and I long to see that feature in them revived which shone forth in 
the Reformation time. 

Our second thought is: God makes the rich and tiie poor to meet together. Much 
is said and done against the rich, and no doubt much is done by the rich against the poor. 
It is quite a case, and the solution of it will surely require more than human wisdom. 
God alone can, and surely God will according to his wisdom and in his time, not before, 
guide us into the right way. Strife, hatred and selfishness will never bring about the 
desired end. Love, divine love; love in the heart of the rich, love in the heart of the 
poor, is the requisite by which divine guidance is understood and submitted to. Great 
riches are as much, if not even more, of a test of human character than poverty is. Both 
may not only, but are, in the divine order of the Creator of man. the means to develop the 
highest order of character. And since it has pleased God's only son, Jesus, to take upon 
himself human poverty, it is with me a question yet which is the more blessed state, that 
of the rich or the poor. Indeed, scripture says it is more blessed to give than to take; 
but lies not there also the greater task? Where is there a single instance in scripture 
referring to a rich man or woman like that of the widow's mite? Our text teaches us 
that it is divine intention that the rich and the poor meet together. Who then will 
undertake to change the order of things? To walk in the appointed way is man's duty. 
So then it is the duty of the rich and the poor to meet together, not in strife but in good 
will one to another, according to the golden rule. Clinton's history for fifty years goes 
to prove that the rich need the poor and the poor need the rich. If the inventor of the 
steam-power loom had failed to meet together with the rich, his family could not have 
given a large sum of money towards the building of this church. If the poor had been 
unwilling to meet together with the rich, the town of Clinton with twelve thousand inabi- 
tants and a weekly pay-roll in the mills alone of about fifty thousand dollars, with great 
church and school interests, would not exist. If the rich and the poor had failed to meet 
together, the civil war with its great issues could not have been fought. A further proof 
of the truth of our second thought is found in the fact that since the erection of this 
church, within a small radius of the same, four new streets have been laid out and sixty- 
three houses, at a cost of at least one hundred and fift)- thousand dollars, erected by and 
many of them belonging to Germans. Of course not all of this property is paid for, but 
still it represents savings out of the earnings. 

The last and third thought taken from the text is: "That the individual as well as the 
community, must be God-fearing if good shall follow them their life long." The industries 
alone would not be sufficient to explain Clinton's marvellous progress. The man who 
under God wrought such a change in Clinton's future was a God-fearing man, and by 
these, his serious convictions, became a power for good in the upgrowing community. 
Christ says: Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that goes forth from 
the mouth of God. Man has to consider his spiritual nature, which cannot live on bread, 
but needs God. Clinton's prosperous condition of today, the cause of our joy, must not 
allow us to forget that it was a double movement by which this commimity was blessed. 
There is danger in great prosperity to lose sight of that soberness which was the high- 
way to prosperity. I think here was the trouble and cause which almost upset our Ger- 
man church enterprise thirteen years ago. Some of our people were so well satisfied 
with their material achievements that they scorned the source of all blessings, God. 
Scripture says: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." True and lasting 
prosperity is based upon the fear of the Lord. 

Our church started thirteen and one-half years ago, and was welcomed by many. 

S.I 



First Congregational Chorch. 

though only very few mustered courage to join it. This same condition in a measure 
exists today. The First Congregational Church housed us and helped us in a Christ-like 
spirit with goodwill and means. But more than that must be said, namely: that through- 
out the community and beyond the limits of this town good people strengthened and 
upheld this work. Work for God, for the true, most sacred and lasting interests of man, 
has been, is and will yet be a struggle and severe contest. 

We cannot measure the influence of the church by statistics, yet we may get a clearer 
idea of the work performed if figures are placed before us. A church property of five 
thousand dollars has been acquired, on which, however, there is still a debt of sixteen 
hundred dollars. The current expenses — interest, insurance, repairs and improvements, 
besides a small salary to the minister, have been paid. About three hundred adults have 
made use of the church during these years; children, two hundred and fifty. Marriages 
performed during 1887-1900, sixty-four; baptisms, one hundred and eighty-three; con- 
firmed, thirty-six; funerals, forty-four — twenty-six adults and eighteen children. Sunday- 
school at the present time: teachers and scholars, one hundred and thirty-five. Some 
of the sad things and bright as well, no doubt will be told when this church celebrates its 
semi-centennial, but we dare not touch upon them at this time. May we not fail in the 
duty of the day. 



FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

Sermon by the Pastor, Rev. William W. Jordan, D. D. 

Text : — The house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth. 

— / Tim. Hi, 75. 

The meeting-house on the green of a thousand New England towns tells the faith 
of our fathers. Its position is a mute but eloquent witness to that which they held para- 
mount. When the Hebrews began their national life, God said to their leader, "On the 
first day of the first month shalt thou rear up the tabernacle of the tent of the congrega- 
tion." This is the historic record of the first church among men, erected in the begin- 
nings of a chosen people, and standing in the midst of the camp. The command and the 
location are alike significant. Israel gathered around it, and it became the local and 
spiritual center of their life. This was the divine idea, and to this our forefathers were 
faithful when they gave God's house its prominence among their homes and in all their 
life. By reason of its ofifice, the church must be the vital center of every community, the 
heart of its life. This town was true to these traditions in its beginnings. There is an 
unmistakable significance in these churches gathered around this beautiful park at the 
heart of this town. And today, as the community celebrates its half century of corpor- 
ate life, the churches are asked to briefly review their own history. Let us turn, there- 
fore, 

I. First, to a historical sketch of this, the first church in Clinton. 

It was organized on November 14th, 1844, and was, therefore, five years old at the 
time the town was incorporated. It was the immediate outgrowth of a Sunday-school 
and preaching service in the school-house on Main Street, of what was then called Clin- 
tonville, or the South Village of Lancaster. The fiftieth anniversary of our Sunday- 
school was celebrated March 20, 1890, its organization antedating the incorporation of 
the town by about ten years. Many of those interested in these services were members 

52 



First Congregational Church. 

of the Evangelical Church of Lancaster, organized in 1839, by those who withdrew from 
the First Church at the time of the historic Unitarian controversy. But the growth of 
Clintonville called for the organization of a church, and an ecclesiastical council, repre- 
senting the churches of neighboring towns, convened at the house of Horatio N. Bigelow 
and advised the formation of this, as the Second Evangelical Church of Lancaster. Of 
its fifty-one original members, twenty-six brought letters from the mother church. And 
of this band of original members six were living at the time of the semi-centennial of this 
church in 1894, but four of these, weary with the weight of years, have since fallen asleep, 
and today but two remain: Mrs. Levi Greene of Clinton, and Miss Mary C. Sawyer of 
Somerville. 

This church has had virtually but three homes. The first, a chapel on the southwest 
corner of Main and Sterling Streets, seating two hundred persons. The Rev. J. M. R. 
Eaton was the first pastor, J. B. Parker superintendent of the Sunday-school, and H. N. 
Bigelow leader of the choir. Erastus B. Bigelow plajed the violin, Gilbert Greene and 
James Burdett the bass viols. The records contain the interesting items: "Voted, that 
the Society pay rent for the bass viol." Also: "Voted, that the Society would be pleased 
to have the seraphine played on trial." After several years of increasing religious inter- 
est, this chapel was outgrown. It was afterwards used by the Baptist Society, then 
altered for a high school, then, with the restlessness of a building fallen from its original 
estate, moved near to the present site of Wallace's grain store, and made into a tenement 
house; and later, to Sterling Street, opposite the wire mill, where it still stands, and is 
known as the Dunbar, or Lyman house. The second building, the original size of which 
is unrecorded, was upon the present site on Walnut Street. The church had been trans- 
ferred, therefore, from a central location in the original village life to that which was 
destined to be the center of the town and sometime city. This building was dedicated 
January 1st, 1847, had little beauty, and was at times irreverently referred to as "the 
Lord's barn." It was enlarged and rededicated February 22d, 1859, a town clock and 
bell being placed in the new tower. Seating six hundred and fifty persons, with its new 
organ and furnishings, this magnified edifice was much admired. In 1873, it was once 
more enlarged, being equipped with wings. Finally, having served its day and genera- 
tion, if not longer, it was taken down, and the present beautiful building erected and ded- 
icated June 2d, 1899. 

Nine pastors have ministered to this parish: Eaton, Corning, Hitchcock, Winchester, 
Judkins, Clark, Wetherby, Scott, Jordan. As the somewhat lengthy procession passes in 
review, it is interesting to know that the first one of all. Rev. J. M. R. Eaton, installed in 
1845, is still living in California. Three others are alive and in active service. With 
these names it seems natural to mention that of Rev. Dr. C. M. Bowers, who has minis- 
tered beside most of them for so many years as to become the spiritual father of this 
community. Sixteen laymen have served this church as its deacons : Parker, Childs, 
Morgan, Parkhurst, Hitchcock, Orr, Bigelow, Murdock, Sawyer, Carter, Kittredge, Breed, 
Patterson, Stickney, Meldrum, Copp, the majority of whom are yet living. Twenty-two 
have held the important office of superintendent of the Sunday-school: H. N. Bigelow, J. 
B. Parker, Otterson, W. W. Parker, Kilbourn, Perry, Robinson, Swan, Kendrick, Howell, 
Hunt, Hitchcock, Leland, Orr, Shaw, Sawyer, W. E. Parkhurst, Carter, Murdock, E. W. 
Breed, Mayberry, Copp. Many others have rendered important service in an official 
capacity. From its beginning there has been a constant, if not rapid growth. Many 
have come to it from across the seas. In i860, there were two hundred members; in 
1890, three hundred and fifty members; at present, four hundred and ninety-two mem- 

53 



First Congregational Church. 

bers. Seasons of special religious interest marked the years 1861, '67, '70, '72 and '76, and 
but few communions have passed without the addition of members. Since its organiza- 
tion there have united with this church, by confession of faith, seven hundred and six 
persons, and by letter, six hundred and thirty-six — a total of thirteen hundred and forty- 
two; " of whom some remain unto this present, but the greater part are fallen asleep." It 
is impossible to reckon the many thousands of dollars given for God's work here and 
elsewhere, and binding this church by invisible bands of influence to the ends of the 
earth. These, in briefest form, are the principal historical dates and events in the history 
of our church during this half century. They have been the most remarkable fifty years 
of human history. This country has grown from a population of seventeen to eighty 
millions; and it would be impossible to chronicle the changes which have revolutionized 
human life and given us a new civilization. 

2. We turn, secondly, to the influence of this church in the municipal life. Fifty 
years ago the church occupied a larger place in the life of men. It was a dominant influ- 
ence in all their life, social and intellectual, as well as religious. It was the guardian 
of the best interests of the community. Therefore, as the first church of the com- 
munity, and its largest Protestant church, always containing a number of the 
town's influential citizens, this church has naturally exercised a large influence in 
shaping the character and history of the town. This was especially true in the first quar- 
ter century of its life. We say it not boastfully, nor with failure to recognize the impor- 
tant influence of other churches, but as a matter of historical fact and proportion. It was 
the mother church of Clinton. Many now in other congregations worshiped with it until 
their own churches were organized, and its present goodl)- fellowship with these other 
churches is strengthened by these ties of other days. It would be impossible to trace in 
detail the influence referred to, but we may notice its salient features. The civic life is 
essentially comprehended under its industrial, educational, social, or political, interests, 
and in these the men of this parish have always been prominent. Horatio N. Bigelow 
was the father of this community. Who can say how far the character of this town has 
been shaped by the large-mindedness, beneficence and force of this single citizen, or how 
much it owes to the genius of his brother? Associated with them were men of strong 
personality, like Deacons Parker, Childs, Morgan, and others of that early day, interested 
in all that concerned the town's well-being. Neither this nor other parishes lacked for 
that tj'pe of manhood out of which were made stalwart and devoted citizens. 

This church has always been identified with the educational interests of the com- 
munity. Standing with a school-house on either hand, its pastors for years, and its mem- 
bers from the beginning, have served upon the school committee; school has been taught 
in its vestry; and many teachers of the town are always found in its congregation. 

The men of the parish, in the capacity of agents, owners, inventors or employees, have 
occupied a large place in the industries to which Clinton owes its origin and prosperity, 
and which have made it today such a fine example of that noble class of towns, our New 
England industrial communities. They have contributed largely to the increasing pros- 
perity of the town through these industries; and a majority of our people today, in some 
relation of superintendence or employ, are connected with the great industries upon 
which the fabric of our commercial life is builded. 

This church, also, has been one of the homes of patriotism, in which love of country 
was conspicuous. Town meetings on important occasions have been held in its vestry. 
Anti-slavery meetings were held as early as 1845, ^^'^ strong resolutions adopted. There 
was a thrilling Sunday afternoon in the beginning of the civil war, when the women of 

54 










FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 



First Congregational Church. 

the congregation met in this and in the Baptist church to sew flannel shirts for the sol- 
diers. The Clinton Light Guard expected to be called at once to the field. Principal 
Ford, our town historian, estimates that of the four hundred soldiers from Clinton in the 
civil war, fully one hundred were from this parish, and these helped to make the peerless rec 
ord of Massachusetts in the defence of the Union. At the country's call, the Sunday- 
school superintendent and forty of his scholars enlisted. This was in deed, as well as in 
name, the church militant. In fact, we feel that these acts were but characteristic of the 
spirit of this parish, of its loyalty to the town, the country, and to God. They also in- 
dicate that for many years, this church filled in this community the place of the tradi- 
tional New England church. 

It is impossible for us who come after, to unravel the bright colored threads of per- 
sonal influence woven into the web of life. We cannot estimate, but we can be grateful 
for, the influence of the man}' strong, noble characters found in the records of this parish. 
That influence has been wrought into the fiber of this community never to be withdrawn. 
Men speak of the sculptors, artists, poets and preachers who were the makers of Flor- 
ence. Every smallest community has also those who are the architects and builders of 
its life, nay, who must be truest artists because of the material with which they deal. 
The men and women who here served God and their fellow men in all the affairs of this 
community carried their faith and devotion into that service. They stand out before our 
memory today like soldiers on the picket line of the horizon, and we thank God for all 
these devoted, stalwart, godl}- lives lived here in the years of the past. I cannot name 
them all, and therefore I will name none, though some of them have come very near to 
my heart. These lives have been lived; they have left an undying influence behind them; 
they have had a large part in the development of this community. Men may forget them; 
neglect to recognize their place and influence in that development, or pass them by in 
silence; but they can never withdraw their influence, nor change the records, nor obliter- 
ate the facts which are indelibly written in the history of Clinton. 

3. It remains for us to speak of the distinctive religious life and work of our church. 
The influence of the church should permeate the entire life of the community, but the 
force of it will depend upon the vitality of the spiritual life at its center. Upon the Con- 
gregational House in Boston are four tablets representing the ideals of the Pilgrims: 
Religion, Education, Patriotism, Industry. To all these this church has sought to be 
true, but it has ever put first that which is first. It has sought to be not primarily a social, 
nor an intellectual force, but a religious, a spiritual force. It has had a message to deliven 
through preaching and teaching, the message of a historic faith, which crossed 
the seas in the Ma)'flower, that truth of God which is eternal in Him who 
is "the same yesterday, and today, and forever." It would be interesting, 
if time permitted, to trace the religious changes of these years, the develop- 
ment and progress, in the midst of which, nevertheless, the essential elements 
of our faith remain not only untouched, but more vital and vigorous than ever. 
During the lifetime of this church there has been a marvellous increase in human 
knowledge, and the kingdom has extended to the ends of the earth. In all these years 
this church has stood for a strong and vital faith. It has preached a divine Saviour, 
it has proclaimed a gospel, it has labored to bring men to God, it has sent its life and 
spirit, like streams of healing, out into the community, its homes, its business, its entire life. 
It has been "the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth." And thus, 
for half a century, has been, not an intermittent, but a constant, abiding, religious force. 

There is a profound interest in the way a church leavens, purifies, uplifts, saves the 

(5) 55 



Advent Christian Church. 

community. We look about us today on this beautiful town, and say with pride that we 
are "citizens of no mean city." And we may know that the most important and benefi- 
cent influence in its growth and development has been that of the life and truth of God 
communicated through these churches. Here this church has stood for fifty-five years, 
holding forth the word of life. To this house of God have come, year after year, men 
with their sins and cares and sorrows, and from it they have departed carrying hope, 
inspiration and truth. A multitude have here confessed their faith and become members 
of the invisible, eternal kingdom of Jesus, the Christ. Here children have been trained 
for God; the young wedded, the aged buried, and the babe baptized. Life's deepest 
realities are suggested here, and in the experience of multitudes this has proved "none 
other than the house of God and the gate of heaven," through which they have had com- 
munion with the spiritual world, and have gone forth to live more faithfully among men 
the life of God. In all these years in which its "clock has tolled out the little lives of 
men," nothing has been such a vital center in the life of this community as the church 
of God, standing like the tabernacle of old in the midst of the camp. 

Our prayer is that this influence may increase as the years go by. We are but pil- 
grims passing onward. We are like the drops of water in the current of the river, mem- 
bers of a moving procession, whose front rank is constantly, silently melting into the 
invisible distance beyond the veil. The years will come and go, and we shall have gone 
to be with those who worshiped here before us. The same sun will shine upon this 
church by day, the same stars pass over it by night, but we shall not be here. Others 
will occupy these places, duties, opportunities. But when there is celebrated the hun- 
dreth anniversary of this community, may men find this church still serving God here 
with a far richer record, and a yet more glorious future. And may they be able to say 
of us, as we here say of those who have gone before us. They were faithful to God and to 
their fellowmen. 

"Fight well ! and thou shalt see, 

After these wars. 
Thy head wear sunbeams, 

And thy feet touch stars." 



ADVENT CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
' Sermon preached by Rev. Frank Burr. 

Text; — What hath God wrought ! — Num. xxiii, 2j. Topic — "The Historic Past." 

The march of time is ever onward, Events may occur and be repeated, but the 
annals of time are never the same. History may repeat itself, but the years that mark 
events never recur. Humanity may journey in a circle, but the Almighty ever marches 
in a direct course, "from everlasting to everlasting." 

The words of our text were spoken when the Israelites were on their journey from 
the land of bondage to the land of promise. They had turned their backs upon the land 
of slavery, where the burden of life was too heavy for mortality to endure; where the lash 
and the wounds were their dail}' experience, and where hunger and thirst were their con- 
stant attendants; where enemies were on every side, and friends were few; where the 
morning sun found them wearied and worn, and the evening shades came upon them in 
their exhaustion. They had left those sad experiences far behind them, and were now 
en route among the hills of the land of Moab, and not far distant from the country in 

S6 



Advent Christian Church. 

which they hoped to find repose from wearisome toil and watchful journeyings, and to enjoy 
a long coveted rest in homes amid the vales and by the streams where their ancestors, 
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, had dwelt long years before. 

This Hebrew race, though numbering their millions of people, were yet in a foreign 
land and among an unfriendly people. The land through which they were passing was 
the "land of Moab," and the progenitor of its people was the son of Lot, the nephew of 
Abraham. The Moabites were distant relatives according to the flesh, but no relatives 
in spirit. They were opposed to the Hebrew race, the Hebrew polity, and to the He- 
brews' God. Balak, king of the Moabites, feared before the Hebrews, and sought to 
subvert their plans and to prevent their progress. 

He employed Balaam, a prophet of those days, who, like Judas the traitor, loved 
money better than righteousness, and from this covetous prophet the king hoped to 
secure a curse that should fall upon the camp of Israel, forever blotting their name from 
the historic record. 

The prophet was interviewed, and his services sought. He communed with God, and 
the Almighty bid him send the messengers away. He did so, but they returned, bring- 
ing with them great promises of wealth and honor. This stirred the covetous heart of 
Balaam, and again the prophet communed with the Lord and pleaded for liberty to go with 
the king of Moab. Then the Lord said, "Go . . . yet the word which I shall say unto 
thee, that shalt thou do." Thus the Lord conditionally consented, but reserved control 
of the circumstances. 

The prophet went on his journey to the court of the king of Moab, but his experience 
by the way revealed the displeasure of the Lord and he should have returned, but his 
covetousness led him on in spite of all the admonition of the angel of God. A desire for 
wealth is the ruin of all who submit to its unhallowed impulses. 

The prophet stood upon the hill-top by the side of the burnt offerings and as he saw 
the tents of Israel spread out in the vale below, he uttered those words so indicative of 
God's purpose and so pregnant with blessings from the Almighty's hand : "How shall I 
curse whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy whom the Lord hath not defied? 
.... Surely, there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against 
Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God 
wrought|!" And now, as the generations of humanity have passed by in the centuries 
since those days, we read of those events recorded more than three thousand years ago, 
and seeing the records of changes that have come during all the long course of time, we 
are led to exclaim in accordance with the language of that ancient prophet on the hills 
of Moab, "What hath God wrought !" 

Balaam, disobedient to the will of God, was nevertheless under the control of the 
Almighty, and could speak only as the Eternal One decreed he should speak. And 
even thus, as we look at the historic record and read the events that have transpired, we 
read of a world anxious for wealth, for honor, for fame, struggling to act and speak, and 
yet under the control and management of the great Creator, who said to the waters, 
"Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed." 

We are living today in the closing year of the nineteenth century of the Christian 
era, and in the long periods of the past we perceive the changes that have come over the 
nations and peoples of the earth; the rise and fall of nations, the building up of cities of 
renown, and the following desolation and ruin of those same cities; the career of men of 
power and men of intellect, whose lives were like comets, to shine for a brief time and 
then to retire; and amid all these mutations we perceive an unseen hand guiding and 

57 



Advent Christian Church. 

controlling, and that hand has not for a single moment loosened its grasp, nor relaxed its 
firm control of humanity. 

Nay, more than that: even beforehand has the Almighty made known to his people 
the course of kingdoms and powers, and especially the course of truth as it relates to the 
work of our Lord Jesus Christ and his people. When the time came, kingdoms were 
overthrown and others took their place; Babylon gave place to Persia; Persia to Greece; 
Greece to Rome, and Rome must give way to the eternal kingdom of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. These great realms are in the historic past, yet they came in their order, even as 
declared in the word of God. Of them it may be said, "What hath God wrought!" 

The history of modern times is not the history of those mighty empires in their bar- 
baric strife and bloody career, but rather the record of new realms and regions that have 
become populous with the voyagers from those ancient realms, who have discovered 
new continents and even a new hemisphere. But with those voyagers to the shores of 
this new continent on which we live and which was unknown in the days of those ancient 
empires, there came also the new religion, or rather the fruit of the ancient religion; and 
the power and the presence of the Hebrews' God, and of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, 
has been plainly manifested. The mighty cities and the thriving boroughs of this fair 
land and country too plainly indicate the overruling Providence that has manipulated and 
guided the progress of civilization, and given to the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ a 
high place and lofty position among the cities and people of these United States. 

Perhaps no more fit occasion could be given for a consideration of the work of our 
God than such an one as is today the cause of rejoicing to the people of this town of 
Clinton. And surely, while people of other denominational tendencies rejoice in the 
grace of God to them in the past and present, the Advent Christian Church may well 
give praise to "the God of heaven" for the grace bestowed upon us in the few years since 
we first assembled to worship the Christ, and to look for his return from heaven. 

Something over fifty years ago, a number of people of the different churches of Clin- 
ton became deeply interested in the subject of the near personal return of Christ from 
heaven, and being of one accord, thej' assembled for worship and to search the prophe- 
cies relating to the event that so much interested them. There were no records kept of 
those meetings, yet from those gatherings has come the present Advent Christian Church 
of Clinton. Elder James Hemenway, a young preacher of much note, held a series of 
revival services in the year 1848, and the number of believers during those meetings 
increased from seven to seventy. 

During many years following, this people held services at stated periods, but no 
church organization was effected, and not until 1876 was a duly incorporated church 
organized. The church held its meetings previous to incorporation in different halls in 
the town, one noted one being on High Street, near where now stands the Associates' 
Block. The building was erected by Deacon John Burdett, and the hall was specially set 
apart for religious services, and a course of lectures on prophecy was given. That was 
fifty years ago. 

For several years meetings were continued in that hall, but at the time the church 
was incorporated the people occupied Union Hall, in Greeley's Block, and they soon after 
removed to Good Templars' Hall. On April 23, 1S79, the church was more permanently 
established in Courant Hall, where it has been located ever since. Elder H. H. Tucker 
preached the dedication sermon. 

The church has fluctuated much in its membership. Many of the members were trans- 
ient people, moving to other towns, and most of its first membership have passed into the 

58 



Advent Christian Church. 

silent grave. The membership has never been large at an}- one time, but there has always 
been enough to keep the altar fires burning, and we can say with a thankful heart, as we 
consider the past history of this little church, so often torn by dissension like ancient 
Israel, and yet preserved by the providence of God, "What hath God wrought!" 

The years of the past in the history of this church and people have given lessons of 
experience which we trust are not lost upon us, nor will they fail to produce the results 
designed by the Lord, who has walked with us as like "the form of the fourth" in the 
midst of the fiery furnace. The interests of the town of Clinton are our interests; its peace 
is our peace; its thrift is our thrift; its humanity is our humanity; its good name is our 
good name, and wherein the town of Clinton fails to live up to the standard of purity 
and godliness, we shall and do most earnestly pray that mercy and forgiveness may be 
manifested from on high. We desire the salvation of its citizens from the curse of 
intemperance, from the power of crime, and from evil rulers and evil rule. 

From our text, and from experience, we may learn, first, that the greatest factor in 
all beneficent results is the hand of the Almighty. He is the worker of all time, and 
"every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father 
of lights." There is no undermining of his work nor forestalling his calculations. Men 
may oppose God, but it makes no difference with him; the difference is with them. He 
who rows his cockle-shell boat in the front of a steamer will not injure the steamer, but 
he brings a terrible disaster upon himself. So the man or the state who opposes God in 
his righteous course only brings destruction upon his own head. How unwise is the 
man who would pursue a course of opposition to the Lord! Who can oppose the Lord 
and live? His ways are eternal, and they cannot be turned back. It is as easy to turn 
back the dial of time and resume the years that are past, as to cause the steps of the 
Omnipotent to swerve from their onward course. 

Yet there are many who unwittingly seek to accomplish such a work. They disre- 
gard the instructions of the Lord, and will not yield to his requirements. To say nothing 
of neglecting prayer and spiritual devotion, there are multitudes who profane the name 
of the Almighty, and who, through anger and drunkenness, as well as by disregard to right- 
eous laws and gospel service, are open opposers of the Eternal Jehovah. Can such pros- 
per? A government or a town or a person who boldly violates the ways of righteousness 
and defies decency and goodness, may for a time seem to prosper, but such a career is 
sure to plunge its followers into ruin sooner or later. He only is prosperous who finally 
triumphs; not he who for a time lives boastfully and then sinks beyond recall. 

Another lesson from this text is, that the Lord works his own pleasure among men, 
yet that pleasure is always a blessing to the obedient. Those who obey the Lord are co- 
workers with him, and he will surely care for them. Men may put forth an effort to 
accomplish some desired result, but it is the blessing of God that causes their work to be 
successful. The Lord works on earth through natural or earthly means, and as people 
yield to his control, so their work is God's w'ork, and whatever is accomplished by man- 
kind is only perfected by the masterly hand of Divinity. 

The will of God is the highest authority, and the pleasure of God is the greatest bliss. 
The happiest persons on earth are those who acknowledge God in all their ways and 
work. No one who is allied to the Lord need worry about work, nor about results, for 
these both belong to the Lord, and the gracious Overseer will see to it that all his work 
shall prosper. In the flesh there may be pain and wearisome toil to the co-worker with 
God, but there will be an abiding peace that gives rest in spirit and joy in heart. 

Who would not be satisfied with these considerations? Would we work successfully? 

59 



First Unitarian Church. 

Then work with the Lord. Would we be free from condemnation? Then accept the 
union with Christ that brings such a result. Would we triumph at last? Then let us join 
the company of the triumphant host who will shout victory over every foe, and who, even 
now, are overcomers by the grace of God. 

Our text teaches us that God is the successful worker; is our work in the same line? 
If so, it will succeed. As naught can turn the work of God aside, so nothing can turn 
aside the work of those who are in his employ. There is " no enchantment against Israel." 
The laws of God are righteous laws; the ways of God are perfect ways. The people of 
God may be comparatively few in number, but it matters not. Though multitudes oppose 
the Lord, they shall all perish, while the single soul that gives himself to the Almighty's 
service will be crowned with life and glory at last. May this be the case with all who 
listen to these words. 



FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH. 

At the Unitarian Church the pastor. Rev. James C. Duncan, preached on "The Good 
Citizen," taking for his text verses 1-5 of the sixty-second chapter of Isaiah, and illus- 
trating his theme from the lives of several prominent members of the parish: Sidney 
Harris, William Stearns, Gilman M. Palmer and Franklin Forbes. Mr. Duncan explained 
that on the 29th of July the fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the Unitarian 
Society was to be observed. At his request, the historical address delivered on that occa- 
sion by Jonathan Smith, Esq., is printed in this volume, in place of his own sermon of 
June 17. 

ADDRESS. 

Amid the rush and anxiety of our daily life it is well to sometimes pause and review 
the past; to recall the incidents of our own lives, compare our todays with our yesterdays; 
and make note of the joys and sorrows, the defeats and triumphs which have fallen to 
our lot. At such times we observe how closely we have kept to, or how widely we have 
departed from the goal to which our youthful ambitions aimed, and can gather up the 
lessons of experience for present needs and future profit. 

Just so it is well for an organization like this to set apart days of retrospection; to 
recall the circumstances which gave it birth, the men and women who made its begin- 
nings, their motives, their hopes and the success or failure which has crowned their labors. 
It is a debt we owe their memory and it is a duty we owe ourselves as well. On such 
occasions there come to us the names of persons we have never seen. We dwell upon 
ideas and principles which have come down to us from the past. We catch the inspira- 
tion which comes from the contemplation of the sacrifices and self-denying labors on the 
part of those no longer living. It takes us out of ourselves and makes us partakers of a 
higher and nobler spirit. So we are incited to greater efforts and can better preserve the 
precious heritage of the past, that we may pass it on unimpaired to those who will follow. 

We meet on such an occasion today. To us and to all, the foundation of a church is 
of greater moment than the incorporation of a town, for its functions appeal more closely 
to the individual mind and conscience. It has to do with the eternal verities of every 
man's life. Willingly or unwillingly the ministrations of the church touch the heart of 
all human beings at some period of their lives, and touch it so closely that they are com- 

60 



First Unitarian Church. 

pelled to pause and listen to its message. Thus it is altogether fitting that on reaching 
its fiftieth milestone this society should delay for a moment to recount the situation 
which led to its organization, consider the wisdom and foresight of those who called it 
into conscious life, and review what it has done to justify the labor and self-denial of 
those who have preserved it unto this hour. 

Naturally the discussion of municipal independence turned the attention of Unita- 
rians in this village to the thought of a new religious society. The population in 1849-50 
was larger than that of the mother town. Its industries were rapidly growing, the num- 
ber of people increasing and a spirit of hope and courage for the future was everywhere 
prevalent. In that winter the certainty that the new town would be set off was assured, 
and this strengthened the desire of those of the liberal faith to found a society here which 
should continue in the new town the ministrations of the Lancaster church. Two Pro- 
testant societies had already been formed and were having a successful growth. A third 
was about to organize. But these societies contained some not in sympathy with their 
creeds, but who preferred to worship with them rather than stay out entirely, on account 
of the distance and difficulty of attending in the mother town. But many still clung to 
the old church. They had either been brought up in its fold or were drawn to it by a 
strong sympathy with its faith, or by the venerable traditions which filled its history. 
But it was three miles away. A barge indeed did go over on Sunday mornings, but it was 
not a conveyance of which all could avail themselves. Especially in inclement weather 
many were precluded from attending. The children could, to be sure, walk the long dis- 
tance; but their appreciation of its hardships, particularly in wintry weather, was more 
lively than their sense of duty. These were obvious facts to the Unitarians of Clinton- 
ville, and strengthened their desire for a church in the prospective town. Under such 
circumstances the movement had its beginning. 

It will never be certainly known by whom the plan was first suggested. There is 
little doubt, however, that it had its origin with some one of four men, namely: Ezra 
Sawyer, Sidney Harris, William Stearns, and Augustus P. Burdett. Probably the materi- 
alization came through conferences among all four, with possibly others whom they knew 
would be in sympathy with it. Of these, the first three belonged to the Lancaster society, 
and one of them was a deacon of its church. Mr. Burdett, though of the liberal faith, 
attended one of the Evangelical churches here, on account of the inconvenience of going 
to Lancaster. 

The enterprise was the subject of many discussions among these parties through the 
winter of 1849-50. Meeting with decided encouragement, the advice of Rev. George M. 
Bartol was sought, who gave to it his hearty sympathy and promise of co-operation. In 
February, 1850, it was determined to make the attempt, and in the Lancaster Courant of 
Saturday, February 16, 1850, appeared this notice: "Rev. George M. Bartol will preach 
in Burdett Hall tomorrow eve at seven o'clock." And in accordance therewith, on the 
evening of February 17, 1850, the first service of this society was held in the attic hall of 
the frame building still standing on the southwest corner of High and Union Streets. 
The movement was a success from the start. The hall was filled by as many as could be 
comfortably seated. The Unitarians of the village came in, along with many others. Mr. 
Bartol conducted the service, and Mr. James A. Weeks organized a volunteer choir and 
furnished the music. The promoters of the plan were so much encouraged that they 
decided to persevere in the movement. Mr. Bartol continued in charge until the follow- 
ing October, preaching every Sunday evening after conducting two services in his own 

6i 



Firs? Unitarian Chorch. 

church during the day. As time went on the attendance and interest increased, and in 
the following June another forward step was taken. 

On the 20th of June, 1850, articles of association were formally drawn up, whereby 
the signers agreed to form themselves into a religious society, "subject to such by-laws 
and regulations, and to take such name as its members may hereafter prescribe." The 
names of these signers, twenty-nine in number, may be found in Mr. Ford's history of the 
town. All are now deceased, except Augustus P. Burdett, who still survives at the age 
of eighty-three years. Ezra Sawyer's name is first on the roll. They called themselves 
the "Second Congregational Society of Clinton." July i6th following, a call for a meet- 
ing, signed by Ezra Sawyer as Justice of the Peace, was issued, addressed to Augustus P. 
Burdett, directing him to warn the members of the society to assemble at Burdett Hall 
on Monday evening, July 29, 1850, at half-past seven o'clock, for the purpose of choosing 
a moderator and all necessary parish officers. 

At that meeting the society was organized in accordance with the form of the statute. 
The standing committee were ordered to hire Clinton House Hall for a place of meeting, 
if it could be had on reasonable terms. The same committee, with Franklin Forbes and 
Charles M. Worcester added, were instructed to select an appropriate name for the society. 
On the 7th of the following October the society again met. The first committee reported 
that they had hired Clinton House Hall for two hundred dollars per annum, and the 
other, that they had agreed upon "The First Unitarian Society of Clinton" for a name. 
Both reports were accepted and adopted. 

The society worshipped in Burdett Hall from February 17th to October 7, 1850, 
when, it being too small to accommodate the meetings, the change was made to Clinton 
Hall, where it staid until the new church was occupied. On removal from Burdett Hall 
to its new quarters the time of service was changed to the usual morning hour. The pul- 
pit was occupied by different ministers, Mr. Bartol occasionally supplying, until the fol- 
lowing April, when Rev. L. J. Livermore came. After preaching a few Sundays, he was 
on the 1st of May, 1851, hired for a year, and continued in the ofifice until April, 1857, 
when he retired. He was never formally installed. 

So much of success had attended the enterprise that about the time Mr. Livermore 
came the plan of a meeting-house began to be agitated. The first scheme was to build a 
chapel, to cost not exceeding two thousand dollars. The shares were placed at fifty dol- 
lars each, and forty-eight were taken. For some reason this move was abandoned and a 
new beginning made on a broader basis. To carry out the new purpose a corporation 
was organized under the name of " Proprietors of the First Unitarian Meeting-house." This 
was a distinct company from the First Unitarian Society of Clinton, though made up of 
men from the latter body. The date of the organization was June 12, 1S52. The pre- 
amble says: "Persons belonging to the First Unitarian Society of Clinton having deter- 
mined to erect a meeting-house for the public worship of God, the subscribers have 
organized themselves as a corporation for the more effectual management of business," 
which explains the reason of this action. The shares of stock were placed at twenty-five 
dollars each. Some ninety shares were subscribed for, to which should be added many 
more which the Ladies' Society from time to time took and paid for. Exclusive of the 
land, the cost of the church was fifty-four hundred and twenty-five dollars. When this 
was completed and furnished the society found itself in debt to the amount of twenty- 
six hundred dollars. 

Mr. Henry P. Fairbanks of Boston gave the land. The deed is dated June 22, 1852, 
runs to the proprietors, and is subject among other things to the condition that the 

62 




THE FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH. 



First Unitarian Church. 

grantees should build a nieeting-housc and let it to the First Unitarian Society of Clinton 
rent free until such time as its income should exceed the annual expenses of the society, 
and that whenever the grantee or its assigns should pay to the grantor or his heirs the 
sum of seven hundred dollars, the condition should be void. The proprietors conformed 
to this condition, the society paying the interest on the debt of twenty-six hundred dol- 
lars, until November, 1866, when the proprietors conveyed the house and land to the 
society, subject to the condition in the original deed, and the society assumed the debt, 
which it afterward paid. The proprietors then dissolved their corporation. The house 
was completed the following winter and was formally dedicated February 3, 1853, to the 
great happiness and satisfaction of the people. Mr. Livermore preached the sermon. 

A description of this first building should be preserved. It was colonial in architec- 
ture, well proportioned, and attractive in appearance upon the outside. It had but one 
room, entered through a vestibule on a level with the street. The pulpit stood some twelve 
feet in front of its present position, with a row of pews facing it on either side. The 
choir gallery was at the south end of the church, raised about three feet from the floor, 
and was entered through two doors on either side, opening from the vestibule. The num- 
ber of pews was sixty-six, and their arrangement, with the position of the aisles, the same 
as now. The walls and ceiling were frescoed. In this one audience room all the meet- 
ings of the church, including the Sunday-school, assembled. 

The expenditures of the society for the first few years were upon a modest scale. 
Prior to October i, 1850, there is no record. From October 13, 1850, to April 13, 1851, 
they were three hundred and fifty dollars; for the following year, seven hundred and fif- 
teen dollars and thirty-five cents, and for the j'ear ending April, 1853, nine hundred and 
eight dollars. Part of these sums for the last two years was for rent of hall. Up to 1868, 
exclusive of sums raised for the debt and interest thereon, they did not exceed fifteen 
hundred dollars, less than half what the)- now are. This was due in part to the fact that 
up to 1868 there was no expense for music. In the latter year they voted to pay the 
organist and chorister fifty dollars each. For the first fifteen years, or until 1865, the 
music was in charge of Mr. James A. Weeks. It is due to his memory to say that he 
abandoned the choir leadership in one of the other churches to organize and take charge 
of this, and only left it when he removed from town in 1865. His services were given 
without money and without price, and he retired to the universal regret of the people and 
with the heartiest goodwill of all his singers. No greater tribute could be paid to his 
love for the society, nor to the rare discretion and tact with which he discharged his del- 
icate and responsible duty. 

The ministry of Mr. Livermore has been twice reviewed, and there is no occasion to 
re-tell it. In his private diary he thus sums up his work: "I found it," he says, "simply 
a parish, of fort)'-five families; I leave a parish of seventy families." In June, 185 1, he 
organized a Sunday-school, which, when he left, numbered fifty-eight scholars. January 
23. 1853, he established the church, which had thirt3'-three communicants when he retired. 
Though not a brilliant preacher, he was admirably fitted for the work of placing the 
society on a solid basis. Naturally conservative, he was a man of sound judgment and 
rare tact, and of a cordial, sympathetic nature. He drew the people to himself and to 
the society by his earnest, sincere and kindly ways, and had the confidence of his parish- 
ioners to a degree rarely attained by a parish minister. When he came the society had 
held services less than a year, and was worshipping in a public hall. Under him, the 
Sunday-school, the Ladies' Benevolent Society, and church were organized, a house built 
and nearly paid for, the number of families nearly doubled and the society established 

63 



First Unitarian Church. 

on an enduring foundation. In its results it was the most important ministry the society 
has ever had. 

After the retirement of Mr. Livermore the parish was without a pastor for more than 
a year. It is reported that in this interval the gifted Edmund H. Sears was invited to 
become its minister, but the rumor cannot be verified from the records and papers of the 
society. However it may be, it was through his influence that Rev. J. M. Heard was 
called, and on August 25, 1858, he was ordained and installed over the society, Mr. Sears, 
his intimate friend, preaching the sermon. Mr. Heard was a brilliant preacher and drew 
large congregations. He gave in the church a course of Sunday evening lectures, which 
crowded the house to the doors. The prosperity of the society under his ministry is 
strikingly shown by the fact that in its first years the receipts from pew rents almost 
doubled, though they fell off somewhat toward the last on account of the strain and stress 
of the civil war. He entered upon all the new duties and responsibilities which came 
with the great rebellion with all the earnestness and zeal of the ardent patriot that he was. 
He wished to enter the military service, and was with difficulty persuaded that he could 
serve the Union cause more effectually at hone. His disappointment, however, did not 
prevent his joining an organization of the citizens, formed here in 1862, for the purpose 
of military drill, and he met and drilled with it as long as it was continued, being the only 
clerg)man in town who did so. His intense interest in and loyalty to the Union had 
much to do with the extraordinary contribution of this society to the ranks of the armies 
in the field. He resigned March 17, 1863, to go to a wider field of duty, and soon after- 
ward died, honored and loved by all. 

Only once during its whole fifty years did the society seem for a moment to lose its 
courage. After Mr. Heard resigned it was without a minister for nearly a year and a half. 
It was the darkest period of the war. The society had been drained of more than half 
of its active young men, wages were low, the mills running on short time, and the out- 
look, both local and national, was gloomy in the extreme. A meeting was called for 
November 23, 1863, to consider the financial situation. After listening to the treasurer's 
report, the parish committee asked instructions as to the propriety of closing the church. 
The discussions were not reported, but it is evident from the records that the necessity 
of discontinuing religious services was most seriously debated. Fortunately, however, 
wiser counsels prevailed, and after an earnest speech by Col. Oilman M. Palmer, urging 
that religious services be regularly kept up, the parish committee were instructed to con- 
tinue the pulpit supply. It was shortly after this that the society extended a call to Rev. 
Francis E. Abbott. He was a man of great ability and wide scholarship, but his theo- 
logical opinions were far in advance of his time. Fortunately for the society, however, 
he declined and accepted a call to Dover, New Hampshire, instead. I say " fortunately," 
for the result of his Dover ministry was one of the most celebrated law cases ever before 
the courts of this countrj'. The dissenting opinion in this case, which sustained the con- 
tentions of Mr. Abbott and his friends, was given by Chief Justice Doe, himself an ardent 
Unitarian, and fills nearly one-half of an entire volume in the New Hampshire reports. 
It was a celebrity kindly spared this society. 

Rev. James Sallaway was installed over the society November 9, 1864, and resigned 
November 9, 1868. He was succeeded bj' Rev. I. F. Waterhouse, who preached his first 
sermon as minister January 3, 1869. He was never formally installed. Under his suc- 
cessful pastorate the society felt the need of more room, and in April, 1872, it was voted 
to enlarge the building; thirty-five hundred dollars were subscribed for the purpose. The 
house was raised thirteen feet, twenty-six feet were added to the north end and a transept 

64 



First Unitarian Charch. 

for the choir at the left of the pulpit, the number of pews was increased from sixty-six to 
eighty-eight, and the building was newly furnished throughout. The total expense of 
the improvements was eleven thousand two hundred and fifty-four dollars and fifty cents. 
But in addition to this the plans, the frescoing, the carpets and pews, besides many other 
things, were given through the liberality of different individuals. The new house was 
first used January 5, 1873, when services were held in the vestry, and this audience room 
was occupied March 6th following for religious worship. There were no formal dedica- 
tion exercises. The. debt incurred was reduced from time to time until 1884, when the 
society raised three thousand dollars and wiped it out. Two years later, the heirs of 
Franklin Forbes, who held a note of seven hundred and fifty dollars for current expenses, 
generously cancelled the same and gave it to the society, and thus every dollar of the 
parish debt was discharged. 

Following Mr. Waterhouse, who resigned May 25, 1873, Rev. William S. Burton was 
pastor a little over two years, beginning the first Sunday of October, 1873, and retiring 
January i, 1876. Rev. Charles Noyes was at once engaged to supply for three months, 
and on the first of the following May became pastor, continuing until August, 1882, when 
he resigned, to be succeeded by J. Frederic Button, who was installed with the customary 
ceremonies June 7, 1883. He resigned the office January i, 1886, and on the 17th of the 
next June, Rev. James C. Duncan was formally ordained and installed, and happily still 
fills the sacred office, his pastorate being the longest in the history of the church. The 
eight ministers of the society have served an average of about six and one-fourth 
years each. 

This was never a missionary church, though in 1863 the American Unitarian Associa- 
tion did give it fifty dollars, all that it ever received from that source. In 1853, a formal 
application to the association for assistance was drawn up, but through the advice of Mr. 
Henry P. Fairbanks it was never sent, Mr. Fairbanks giving two hundred dollars 
instead. For several years, back in the fifties, Mr. Nathaniel Thayer was a generous 
donor to its funds, and one of the sons has often since followed his honored father's 
example. Otherwise the society has relied upon itself, and has never suffered through 
lack of public spirit on the part of its members. 

In 1884, by the will of Oilman M. Palmer, it was given four thousand dollars and a 
lot of land of the same value for a parsonage, which was built in 1887. By the same instru- 
ment Mr. Palmer also gave the Sunday-school one thousand dollars. It was the crown- 
ing act of a life of generous giving to the church he loved, and it remains a monument to 
the loyalty and broad public spirit of one who, in this and in his liberal bequests to other 
charitable institutions of the town, illustrates a special feature of the faith he held. 

Our kindred organizations deserve liberal place in this narrative. There is no certain 
date of the beginnings of the Ladies' Benevolent Society. The first record is of May 4, 
1853, the day of its annual meeting; but the minutes of that date clearly imply that it had 
been in existence at least two years. It is certain that the ladies of the parish held meet- 
ings in the summer of 1850. Through that season, while the men were discussing ways 
and means to place the struggling society on its feet, it was inevitable that the ladies 
should also be planning methods of co-operation. When was any good cause demanding 
labor and self-sacrifice ever undertaken in which woman did not contribute more than 
her share? 

Its earliest serious work was furnishing the first meeting-house. The report for 1852-3 
says: "The past year has been a season of unusual interest in consequence of the effort 
made by the ladies to furnish the new meeting-house." "A work," it goes on to say, 

6S 



Fifst Unitarian Church. 

" in whicli it was not only a duty but a privilege to engage." It expended for that object the 
same year five hundred and sixteen dollars, and assumed and subsequently paid off a 
debt of sixty-three dollars for the same object. It held its meetings every two weeks, 
first in the afternoon and later in the evening, gathering at private houses until May 21, 
1873, when it met in its new parlors in this building, where it has since assembled. 

The efficiency of its labors is on record. It did the work of charity which usually 
falls to such bodies. The first year of the war its meetings were devoted exclusively to 
the soldiers, and afterward its members, through the Ladies' Aid Society of the town, 
gave generous and unwearied assistance to that great cause. It contributed liberally to 
the support of the church, purchased shares in the corporation building the house, helped 
pay the minister's salary, liquidated coal and other bills, and in nameless other ways and 
by helpful words and encouraging example aided in support of the society. It has been 
the silent yet potent influence behind every good word and work of the parish, often con- 
cealing its own identity, but always contributing largely toward the success of every 
enterprise in hand. 

At its annual meeting in June, 1867, it initiated the plan to purchase an organ, and 
during the year held a fair which netted two hundred dollars for the enterprise. The 
next winter the matter was further aided by a subscription paper which yielded upward 
of twelve hundred dollars, and in the spring of 1868 the organ was purchased and set up, 
at an expense of sixteen hundred and twenty-five dollars. There was left over a debt of 
one hundred and five dollars, which the ladies paid. It gave the cushions to the recon- 
structed church building, in 1873, at an expense of six hundred and fifty dollars. It fur- 
nished its parlors the same year at a cost of over one thousand dollars. It would be a 
pleasant task to go over the names on its honored roll, and speak of those who, through 
its earlier and later years, faithfully attended its meetings and devoted every spare 
moment of their time at home to its interests; and whose words of faith and hope, and 
active labors have never wearied and never failed through all the changing vicissitudes 
of this society. Many of you knew them, loved and honored them, and will cherish their 
memory while life lasts. Their influence has made permanent impressions upon this 
society and contributed in a large degree to the place it holds as one of the institutions 
of the town. 

One other organization must be named — the Franklin Unity — organized in the fall of 
1877, through the wise foresight of Mr. Noyes, then the minister. It was worthily named 
for Franklin Forbes, a leading parishioner. Its active members, at first including the 
young people only, now embrace all who worship in this place. It immediately took 
control of the social activities of the society, bringing the people often together in friendly 
intercourse, and on its practical side aiding largely in the support of public worship. For 
several years it had charge of the music. In its life of twenty-two years, after paying all 
its own expenses and furnishing the vestry with a complete dramatic outfit, it has, directly 
and indirectly, paid into the treasury of the society about ten thousand dollars up to May 
1st, this year. Its entertainments have been of such character as to disarm criticism, and 
in their general features have been extensively imitated by other bodies. It has drawn 
to its membership many from other societies. Compare the present social life in the 
churches of Clinton with what it was twenty-two years ago and note what the Franklin 
Unity has done in this line of church activity in the town. But better and more impor- 
tant than all else has been its influence upon the young people of this society. It has 
shown them the dignity and worth of service, taken them out of themselves, taught them 
to work and sacrifice for others, led their thoughts and energies toward those great ideas 

66 



First Unitarian Church. 

for which this church stands, and made them its earnest and willing disciples. Many of 
the precepts and admonitions which have fallen from this pulpit may have been forgot- 
ten, but the training in practical righteousness given by the Unity to its members will 
remain while their lives last. Their proverbial affection and loj'alty to this church is in 
part the rich fruit of its beneficent work. 

In the task of founding and building up this society two names deserve mention. 
First of these is Rev. Dr. Bartol, whose gracious presence casts its benediction upon our 
gathering today. He conducted its first service more than fifty years ago. For months 
he had charge of its affairs, coming here in the evening after preaching two sermons in 
his own church. He had the entire care of its pastoral work until a permanent minister 
was chosen, and was its active and interested adviser through all its struggling years, as 
indeed he still is. More than eight out of its fifty years this society has been without a 
pastor, and during all these intermittent periods he has attended the funerals of the parish, 
acted for the ladies' society, and visited its homes in hours of distress and sorrow as well 
as joy, as if he had been its settled minister. How much this people owe him for his wise 
counsels and comforting assistance cannot be easil)- told in words. And this has contin- 
tinued for fifty years! Where in the whole history of the denomination can that record 
be paralleled? Deepl}- grateful for his presence on this occasion, we all unite in saying, 
in the words of the old Hebrew prophet: "As he was with the fathers," so "let him not 
leave us, nor forsake us," while his life is spared. 

Mr. Forbes was identified with the society from the start, though he did not take a 
prominent part until after his family moved here in October, 1850. From that time on 
till the day of his death he was its most active and zealous friend and helper. Every 
year he was a member of one or more of its official boards, and how many times he 
quietly paid the deficiency in the current expenses will never be known. In all his rela- 
tions as citizen, as churchman and as a friend and neighbor no one so fully typified the 
true Unitarian as he. At the head of a large corporation, and almost constantly in the 
municipal employment of the town, he still found time for all the service this society was 
willing to receive at his hands. He impressed his own character upon it as a factor in 
the life of the place, and inspired its people with his high ideals of duty and responsibility. 
To him more perhaps than to any other one man has been due the influence it has had in 
the best civic life of the town. The eulogy of Hamlet upon his rojal father may truly be 
pronounced upon him: — 

" He was a man, take him for all in all. 
We ne'er shall look upon his like again." 

It would be a grateful privilege to recall others whose generous and self-denying 
services have contributed to make this society what it is. They deserve as honorable 
mention as those already named, for they gave of their means and time all they were able, 
and of noble example and upright character the best they had. No church ever had a 
more loyal following than this through its whole fifty years. Its vigorous growth has not 
been watered by the blood of its believers — perhaps not by their tears; but it has been 
fed and nourished by the labors and devotion of men and women as true and devout as 
ever adorned any church on this goodl)- earth. Let us hold their memories in perpetual 
honor, and transmit the great heritage they have left to those who shall follow us in this 
place. 

"Blessed is the nation," says the old proverb, "whose annals are dull." This outline 
of our history seems tame and commonplace, but it is a framework merely — a framework 

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First Unitarian Church. 

that has been filled in and upon with a body of good deeds and noble influences which 
has made it a blessing to its worshippers and a power for good in this town. Its num- 
bers have been comparatively small, but its public spirit broad and generous. Out of its 
fold went thirty-two men to the civil war, more than two-thirds of its young men of mili- 
tary age, among them one colonel, two captains and five lieutenants. Of these, five gave 
their lives through bullet or disease to the cause of their country, illustrating that cardi- 
nal rule of our faith, that "greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his 
life for his friends." 

Its part in civic affairs has been out of all proportion to its relative strength in num- 
bers. Up to 1875, Clinton had six different town clerks, three of whom were of this 
society. It had four treasurers, two of them being of this church. Of the thirty-five 
selectmen, fifteen came from this society, and eleven out of its thirty-five school commit- 
tee. Of the ten representatives to the legislature for the first twenty-five years, five were 
also from this people, and ten out of twenty-four trustees of the Clinton Savings Bank 
first elected. 

In the great industrial enterprises of the town, in all movements for a higher and 
purer civic life, in everything looking to the amelioration of the common lot, the wider 
diffusion of knowledge and the unsectarian education of the people, it has stood in the 
front rank, and been true to the best traditions of the Unitarian name. 

It has never been the popular church. Representing the advance guard of religious 
thought and life, it has stood firmly at the outpost, heedless of the fears and criticisms of 
its more conservative sisters. It has not sought to attract the multitude by any form of 
sensationalism, nor have dissensions ever disturbed the even tenor of its way. It has had 
an even, healthy growth, and a brave, confident constituency. Occasionally some, like 
Onesimus, "whom we have begotten in our bonds, have departed for a season that other 
churches might receive them forever," and sometimes others, like that other man of 
Scripture, "have forsaken us, having loved this present world," to join the great army of 
the unchurched, but its people as a whole have been steadfast to its interests and to its 
cause. For fifty years it has led in the best religious thought of the time. 

Its pulpit has been a free pulpit and the "Itch for inquiry," against which Calvin so 
solemnly warned Socinus, has never been stifled within these walls. The one obligation 
this people has laid upon its ministers is that they should speak their sincere and deepest 
convictions upon all the great problems of duty and destiny. Wisely and intelligently it 
has adjusted itself to all the changes in religious thought and opinion which the last half 
century has brought. It has had no quarrel with science or discovery or history, but has 
welcomed the new light, coming from every sphere of human thought and research, as a 
fresh revelation from the Deity. It has not sought to be judged by its creeds or agree- 
ments, but by the character of the men and women it has produced, and by what it has 
done and has tried to do in this community; and through it all has kept before itself all 
the obligations and responsibilities contained in these four words of mighty import and 
vast significance: Truth, Service, Liberty and God. 

Providence kindly hides from human eye the changes which the future is to bring; 
but whatever shall come to this church in the century about to open, today it can rest 
content that " the past is at least secure." 



68 



United Presbyterian Church. 

UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

Sermon by the Pastor, Rev. J. H. Moorehead. 

Text:— Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths. — Jeretniah, vi, i6. 

Today begins the religious exercises in connection with the celebration on Monday 
and Tuesday of the semi-centennial of Clinton, Massachusetts, one of the most beautiful 
towns of this cultured and historic state. I wish to preface what I have to say this morn- 
ing b)' giving notice of the fact that if any one has sought the courts of this house of 
worship expecting to hear dry abstractions or tedious technicalities of religion discussed, 
that one has come to the wrong church. When the battle is on between the armies of 
unfriendly nations, the commanding officers do not sit in the rear discussing the nature 
of human blood and examining the ingredients of gunpowder. There is no time for such 
contemptible foolishness, because men are wanted at the batteries, in the trenches, on the 
flanks, and the presence of the generals is demanded at the front to inspire them to 
victory. 

When the God-fearing people of this community have been battling against the forces 
of evil, when here as well as everywhere the powers of light and darkness are pitted 
against each other, there is no time for the definitions and the formulas and the conven- 
tionalities of beliefs. I am not here this morning to parade before you our own denomi- 
national distinctives, however consistent with the Bible we believe them to be. I do not 
intend to squander the thirty or forty minutes allotted me toda}' in setting forth a history 
of our local church when the same can be accurately related in ten. What this occasion 
demands, in our case at least, it seems to me, is not the treatment of the things aforesaid, 
but an unflinching application to ourselves and others of the tremendous truth couched 
in the imperative language of Jeremiah. 

I assume that we, as United Presbyterians, although without a permanent organiza- 
tion prior to February 6, 1S93, can join heartil)' in an appropriate recognition of Clinton's 
fiftieth year of corporate existence. But I have reserved the right to use that style of 
sermon which I consider not only a fitting religious introduction to this celebration, but 
one that conveys some practical, helpful, suitable message from God for us at this stage 
of our local church history. 

We have had quite enough of some would-be leaders in secular and religious investi- 
gation, and heard already too much from others. This, however, should never be our 
attitude toward God and his truth. We should search the Scripture daily with the pur- 
pose to live the principles they set forth. With the wisdom thus acquired we can look 
thoughtfully and devoutly on all changes — social, political and ecclesiastical. 

If we today overestimate our own particular day and generation, we throw ourselves 
open to the charge of unwarrantable presumption. If we make the manifest error of 
underestimating the times in which we live, we reduce ourselves to the cold, dark, death- 
like level of miserable scepticism. In avoiding both of these extremes I do not intend 
settling down in this quoted text, and from this tenable position hurling shafts of criti- 
cism. On the other hand, let us wait upon the Infinite One, by whom the world is to be 
subjugated to its Lord, for that message appropriate to the times in which we live. 

What sort of men befit such times as these? This is a question that confronts every 
thinker with considerable force, especiall)' when our intelligence is shocked almost daily 
by the airing of some horrible crime and made anxious lest still greater montrosities await 
deliverance. The hopeful souls who flatter themselves that vast progress has been made 
in the world's condition, and that the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of 

69 



United Presbyterian Chorch. 

the twentieth could present no experience comparable with the crimes and woes, the 
intolerance and oppression attending the first half of the century now drawing to a close, 
may well stand aghast as the swift procession of evils march before our appalled and 
sickened vision without apparent end. We but dimly recognize the portents of what we 
have already seen, and this is the reason that leads us todaj- to put this momentous inter- 
rogative, I'What sort of men befit such times as these?" Who are they who get the most 
good out of, and do the most good in these times? Those who are absorbed in them- 
selves, who care not what transpires so long as their craft and pockets remain untouched? 
No! The individuals who are lost in pleasure, whose chief thought is how much gratifi- 
cation can the extract out of they passing days? No! The cold, passionless votaries of 
reason, who bring everything to the touchstone of logic, who abolish as unworthy of their 
consideration all ideas of the supernatural? No! The men who are the shuttlecocks if 
excitement, driven hither and thither by the latest discovery, the newest theory? No! 
The men who are the victims of cowardice, who are afraid to say what they believe and 
feel, who shrink from stemming the tide of fashion? No! What kind of men are the 
right men for these days; have we got them? If not, can they be gotten? 

I believe we have in this state and community many men alive to their present needs. 
I believe that number can and ought to be increased. Men like God's servant Caleb, 
"who had another spirit with him and who followed the Lord fully." Men like the chil- 
dren of Issachar, "which were men that had understanding of the times to know what 
Israel ought to do." They were not like the political and moral incompetents of our day, 
who are trying to guide the people of igoo regardless of the time-honored principles of 
our fathers. They looked at the divine indications not only of their own particular day 
and century, but the divine signs of every age and century. So ought we to understand 
our days and times and ages, not only when America was thirteen colonies huddled 
together along the Atlantic seaboard, but today, when America has become a nation 
whose each hand dips in an ocean, whose head is bathed in the largest fresh water basin 
in the world, and whose feet are washed in the thermal waters of the Caribbean. The 
Lord who rounded this old world centuries ago, and sent his Son to redeem it nearly nine- 
teen hundred years ago, has yet much to do with this radiant though agonized planet. 
May God who ruleth in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of men, make 
us men who have understanding of the times to know what we ought to do. What theme 
has a better claim upon us today? The treatment of what other truth is more opportune, 
since we have reached the fiftieth milestone in the history of our beautiful inland town? 
Let others say, but as for me, I have deemed it eminently fitting that we should stop in the 
onward rush of business and pleasure and consider what God has revealed for our profit 
at such a time as this; hence the language of His servant Jeremiah: "Thussaith the Lord, 
Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths." 

I. First of all, I see in this text the bearer of excellent advice. Although it was 
originally addressed to a wicked king, a worldly aristocracy, a corrupt people and a rot- 
ten church; although he who uttered it faithfully warned his countrymen, yet like Cas- 
sandra, the Trojan prophetess, he was not believed; although Jeremiah was dragged 
by Jewish refugees down to Egypt, and, according to tradition, died a martyr there, still 
the book that bears his name is with us, and we are persuaded that those who observe its 
principles to live them, shall not go astray. This being the temper of our mind and 
heart toward the prophet and his book. His imperative words as used in the text we take 
to be God's summons to thought and consideration. They are as though the prophet 
said, "Stop and think; halt and consider; stand still; pause and reflect; look within, behind 

70 




GERMAN CHURCH. 




THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 



United Presbyterian Church. 

and before; do nothing rashly. What are you doing, and where are you going? What 
will be the end and consequence of your present line of action? Stop and think." 

Now, to set men thinking is one great object of God and every religious teacher. No 
instructor, secular or religious, can afford to minimize, much less omit this significant 
fact, because where a person begins to think seriously he has taken the first step toward 
heaven. "I thought on my way," said the psalmist, "and turned my feet unto thy testi- 
monies." The prodigal son in the parable never would have sought his father's house if 
he had not "come to himself." It was when he quietly thought over the folly of his con- 
duct that he became convicted of his guilt and cried, "Father, I have sinned." You see 
it was this poor outcast taking time to stop and think and consider his ways that resulted 
in his forgiveness and restoration. The lack of such conduct is the cause why multitudes 
annually make shipwreck of themselves forever. 

Men as a rule do not deliberately choose evil and refuse the good, turn against God 
and serve sin as sin; the major part come to this condition because they began life wrong 
and continued in its course without a moment's serious thought. "My people doth not 
consider," is Isaiah's solemn charge against Israel. " I never gave it a thought," is the 
sorrowful defence which multitudes of men and women make when arraigned on account 
of their sins. Hosea's words are strictly true of millions: "They consider not in their 
hearts." 

Of all classes of people who get into trouble by not thinking, in short by neglecting 
the advice given them in the text, I suppose there are none so liable as the young. Full of 
life and spirit, ignorant of the world, thinking only of the future and forgetting the past, 
they rush in not seeing their way out, make solemn contracts only to rue them afterwards, 
choose professions in which years of valuable time are squandered before they see their 
irretrievable mistake. Esau thought to gratify present needs only, when he sold his 
birthright for a mess of pottage. Dinah wished to go out "to see the daughters of the 
land," and thought no harm of it; but she lost her reputation and imported confusion into 
her father's house. Lot saw no reason why he should not pitch his tents on the fertile 
plain of Sodom, but selfishness led him into the city, where he mingled with people who 
were "sinners exceedingly before God," and there he finally lost all he had, save his two 
daughters. All these learned the cost of not stopping to consider. "They sowed to the 
flesh and they reaped a harvest of sorrow and disappointment," because they did not 
"stand and see" and continue in the "old paths," before approved and blessed of God. 

We fully realize that these are ancient things about which we are speaking. The 
critic may say, "You cannot put old heads on young shoulders." But let us remember 
that the young are not the only class who need the exhortation of the text in these days. 
The advice of Jeremiah is general and pre-eminently applicable to all classes, conditions 
and times. Hurry is the characteristic of our age. See how the railroads, telegraphs, 
telephones and sharp competition oblige Americans to live in a constant, breathless 
whirl. They are like Jehu, driving furiously after business or politics— no time for a few 
minutes' calm, quiet reflection about their souls and the world to come; they live in a 
hurry, and in a hurry they too often die. If there ever was a time when Jeremiah's 
advice was needed, it is now. Not in far away lands simply, but right here in America, 
in the State of Massachusetts, and in the town of Clinton. 

Men and brethren, saint and sinner, I would have you stop and think to-day. I 
would have you "stand, pause awhile." You must, if you are to see what has been done 
in this community during the past fifty years — what good has been accomplished and 
>v'hat evil has been wrought, Our audience this morning is not made up of the old resi- 

1} ' <^) 



United Presbyterian Church. 

dents of the town; if it was, I might appeal to them to answer the questions: How much 
better is this town now than it was thirty or forty years ago? True, we have made great 
strides in industries and education, but my question is, how much better are the citizens 
of this town in a moral and religious respect than they were a half or even a quarter of 
a century ago? I admit the progress in all lines of business, and am glad, too; but what 
about the spirituality of the people? Where are the old time faith in God's word, the full 
churches, the quiet, restful Sabbaths that once characterized this entire New England 
country? Where is the simple worship of the Son of God, to have the free exercise of 
which the Pilgrim Fathers came to our rock-bound coast? Now is the time to stop. You 
have reached a resting place in your journey toward heaven or perdition. Beware of 
the infection of the times. Remember the Spanish proverb: "Hurry comes from the 
devil." Beware of perpetual hurried prayers, hurried Bible readings, hurried church-go- 
ing, hurried communions. Commune at least once a week with your own heart and be 
still. Cotton and coal and iron, corn and ships and stocks, land and gold, liberalism and 
conservatism, are not the only things for which we have come into this world. Death 
and judgment and eternity are not fancies, but stern realities. Make time to think about 
them. You will be obliged one day to take time to die, whether prepared for it or not. 
Remember that the restless high-pressure rush in which we live endangers the very 
foundation of our personal religion. 

2. The particular direction of the command to those addressed. 

There is no doubt in mj' mind that Jeremiah meant, when he enjoined his fellow 
countrymen "to ask for the old paths," the faith in Jehovah that had characterized their 
fathers for thirteen hundred years. What he wished to recall and re-establish as a chan- 
nel in which to walk were "the paths of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob — the paths of Moses, 
Joshua and Samuel — the paths of David, Solomon, Hezekiah and Jehoshophat;" the paths 
wherein the decalogue stood as the guide and rule of life. The paths wherein the law of 
worship was the elaborate sacrificial system, the essence of which typified the coming 
King and Savior of men. These were the paths in which Jeremiah exhorted the people 
to walk — around the standards of a Moses and a Joshua, a Daniel and a Solomon, he 
would have the people rally. 

But are we to restrict the application of this principle to the times in which Jeremiah 
lived? Was his call to " stand and see" and "ask for the old paths" pertinent to his own 
day alone? Nothing of the kind. The medicine Jeremiah offered for the spiritual dis- 
eases of his countrymen is exactly what is needed in our own time. This is an old rem- 
edy, that is true; but what difference does it make when the complaint is the same? 
Shall I turn my back upon an old cure because it is old? But you say, "Error is old." 
So is truth; it is always ancient. Men's hearts have not changed in the last six thousand 
years. What, therefore, cured spiritual diseases centuries ago, will cure them today. I 
have no other principle to apply to the times in which we live than that incorporated in 
God's command through Jeremiah, to Israel and to us. 

Fundamental truths have always been the same; the path by which sinners have 
reached heaven has always been one and the same; in this respect we want nothing new. 
What this age needs preeminently is plain, distinct, unflinching teaching about the "old 
paths," unhesitating inquiry for the old doctrines and the faith of the days that are past. 
"Give me no modern road of man's invention. Show me where patriarchs and prophets 
and apostles and fathers and reformers set down their feet, obtained a good report and 
made a mark on the world." The old way is good enough for me. If the old channels 
in which walked the fathers of the Hebrew people were owned and marvellously bleesed 

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United Presbyterian Church. 

by God; if the apostles and early disciples of our King; and Redeemer, though "unlearned 
and ignorant men," were enjoined to continue in the "old paths," what better word have 
I for you today, and in fact for entire Christendom, than a plea for the old way, fiom 
which some have so far deviated and others have deliberately tried to destroy? Oh, my 
people, if any of you have been trying to set up your own way in place of that set forth 
in Scripture, I warn you, and beseech you, to retreat from the danger toward which 
you are headed. Stop, my friends, "stand and see, and call for the old paths," which 
bridge today, as they always have, the gulf between earth and heaven. They need no 
mending, for they are as straight and narrow and firm and sufficient as the day God 
received them from the nail-punctured palms of His immortal Son. 

But permit me to come a little nearer home. L.et us no longer speak of generalities, 
truth and error, which are common to us all, but let us examine ourselves as United Pres- 
b}terians in this great Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and in this particular town 
of Worcester County. Are we doing the work enjoined upon us by Him who "doeth all 
things well?" Have we departed from the paths of our Protestant reformers in heroic, 
though once bleeding, Scotland? Have we forgotten the "old paths" always blessed of 
God in our efforts to walk as Christian men and women before the people of New Eng- 
land, or are we intensifying by our inconsistencies, hypocricies, double-dealing and sub- 
terfuge the moral darkness that is rapidly deepening into night in many cities and towns, 
as well as in many districts in rural New England? If so, stop it; consider your ways 
and beat a rapid retreat; reorganize your forces; choose leaders who give no uncertain 
sound; take up the old banner of the cross that has been disgraced, despised and shot 
down by the enemy of all righteousness, and plant it not only in the rural places of New 
Hampshire, where Dr. Gordon spent many a summer vacation reopening for the simple 
worship of God the closed sanctuaries of his native state, but in the fifteen counties of 
Maine wherein it is said that almost, if not quite one-half, of the Protestant families have 
no Sabbath home. But do not stop; carry the cause that has never been successful!)- 
resisted into the thirty-one towns of southeastern Massachusetts, wherein it is reported 
two hundred families have not the word of God, and nearly three hundred families are 
without any religious books — where forty out of every one hundred families of Puritan 
extraction have left the house of God and severed all connection with Christianity. The 
present duty of the Presbyterian Church, though only seventeen thousand eight hundred 
and si.xty-seven strong in this state, and thirty-five thousand eight hundred and fifty-three 
in entire New England, is to cry aloud and spare not, showing the people their sins and 
pointing to Him who is willing to forgive and reclaim them as his own. 

Of course I am well aware that the old paths for which I have been pleading are not 
popular in some quarters at this day. There may be those who are thinking that the 
views to which I have been giving utterance are in direct antagonism to much of the so- 
called wisdom of these times. Some may localize this slur upon the wisdom of God by 
the heavy fire of such language as "worn-out doctrines," "fossil theology," "old-world 
creeds," "old-fashioned divinity." These, say they, are not the guiding principles of the 
leaders and scholars of the present age, these notables who like the Athenians of old 
spend their time trying to hear or discover some new thing. 

It is not something new in belief or method of propagating that belief that we wait 
for, as we pause for a little while at the stone which is to mark our fiftieth birthday as a 
corporate municipality. Although we as United Presbyterians cannot boast of having a 
history one-half the age of the town in which we live, still that banner which means so 
much to us was first unfurled to Clinton's balmy breezes by Dr. Alexander Blaikie in July 

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United Presbyterian Church. 

of 1878, and again in December of 1882, Rev. P. Y. Smith took it up and called to organi- 
zition the scattered forces. But not until the 6th of Februar)-, 1893, ^vas this time-hon- 
ored banner of our Scotch and Irish fathers planted upon this beautiful spot we occupy 
today. During the pastorate of Rev. Albert Flick this old banner held its rightful place, 
and through the administration of Rev. W. A. McClymonds there was no disposition to 
surrender it. Is it bigotry to love it? Is it idolatry to hail it as the symbol of all our 
hearts hold dear? A thousand times no! 

We do not care to haul it down and replace it by another. The truths, the principles, 
the doctrines for which it has always stood should be the subjects of our meditation today. 
The system of civic and religious instruction for which our church stands is not the work 
of man's hands. May we pause today and consider our heritage in God. Evil may 
abound and ignorant impatience may murmur and cry out that Christianity has failed; 
but, we may depend upon it, if we want to do good and shake the world, we must fight 
with the old apostolic weapons and stick to the "old paths." 

Men and brethren, respect the logic of facts. Give the direction of Jeremiah the 
attention it deserves; never be ashamed to ask for the "old paths," and do not be afraid 
to walk in them. Look at them and talk of them, but actually walk in them. Let no 
scorn of the world, let no ridicule of smart writers, let no snare of liberal critics shake 
your confidence; only try them and you will find them a "waj" of pleasantness and peace." 

The nation's need is men; the state's need is men; and Clinton's need is men. "Stand 
and see" if this is not true, then call for the "old paths" when God gave us men. 

"A time like this demands strong minds. 
Great hearts, true faith and read)' hands. 
Men whom the lust of ofifice does not kill; 
Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy; 
Men who possess opinions and a will; 
Men who have honor; men who will not lie; 
Men who can stand before a demagogue 
And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking. 
Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog 
In public duty and in private thinking; 
For while the rabble in their thumb-worn creeds. 
Their large professions and their little deeds, 
Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps. 
Wrong rules the land and waiting Justice sleeps." 



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SCHOOL EXERCISES. 

A S Sunday had been devoted to the religious history of the community and the cele- 
■'*■ bration of the Semi-Centennial by the churches, so the forenoon of Monday was 
given up to the celebration of the anniversary by the schools. Since the history of local 
education received comparatively little attention in the exercises, it may be briefly out- 
lined here. 

There is no record of any school kept in the territory now called Clinton until the 
beginning of the present century. As it is known, however, that the village about Pres- 
cott's mills was called School District No. 8, and that east of the river about Stephen 
Wilder's, School District No. 9, and as school money was allotted to these districts at 
least as early as 1791, it is reasonable to suppose that instruction was furnished to the 
children of these districts under the auspices of the town before the first school of which 
we have definite record. Such instruction was probably given by "dame schools" in pri- 
vate houses during a considerable portion of the Eighteenth century. 

The redistricting of Lancaster in 1801 changed the number of the district about Pres- 
cott's mills to 10 and that of the Wilder district to 11. The records of the former district 
were carefully kept and are still in existence. The first entry is dated March 25, iSoo. 
Before this time, a school-house must have been started, for it was voted April 9 at a dis- 
trict meeting, "that the school-house should be finished where it now stands, yeas 7, nays 
2." The memorial tablet dedicated on this Semi-Centennial da)-, June 18, 1900, appro.xi- 
mately marks its location. This school-house was twenty-four feet long from north to 
south and eighteen feet wide. The door was on the northeast corner, opening to the 
north. On the same side was the chimney with the great open fire-place where wood 
four feet in length could be burned. On the other side, against the wall were the seats 
for the pupils, with benches in front. Sally Sawyer was the first teacher whose name has 
been preserved. She was paid one dollar per week for her services, and was employed 
under a vote passed July 30, 1801 : "That a woman school be kept two months from date." 
Peter Larkin, who taught seven weeks during the winter 1807-8, is the first recorded male 
teacher. In 180S, after the comb-makers had settled here, there were twenty-six pupils, 
and from that time on there were both summer and winter terms, each of some six or ten 
weeks in length. 

In 1824, on account of the growth in population arising from the development of 
Poignand & Plant's mills, a brick school-house was erected just south of the present posi- 
tion of Parson's blacksmith shop on Main Street. Here, as in the other building, the 
summer school was kept by a woman, and during the winter months a man was employed, 
either some young collegian or some noted disciplinarian such as Ezra Kendall or Silas 
Thurston, from the neighboring villages. In 1839, when Factory Village had begun to 
feel the influence of the Bigelows, there were over fift)' pupils in the district; so, in accord- 
ance with a state law to that effect, an assistant was employed. An old register for the 
winter of 1843-4, preserved by Dr. George VV. Burdett, who was the teacher at that time, 
has ninety-five pupils enrolled. The oldest was nineteen years of age, the youngest three. 

75 



School Exercises. 

The average age was about ten. The subjects studied were reading, spelling, writing, 
grammar, geography, natural philosophy and book-keeping. As has been noticed, the 
district had already felt the influence of the new industries started by the Bigelows, and 
from this time on for five years, the growth in the population and in the schools was phe- 
nomenal. In 1844, a new house was erected just north of the brick one for the youngest 
pupils. During the forties, the average duration of the two school terms combined was 
over thirty weeks. 

Meanwhile, a school had also been maintained east of the river. At first, it was kept 
in private houses, but in 1809, a school-house was built a little west of the Carruth house. 
From this time on, the history of this district was similar to that of No. 10. In the 
schools of these two districts, elementary education was imparted to children who in their 
after life deeply influenced the fortunes of our own community and the world at large. 
The names Burdett, Stone, Lowe, Gibbs, Rice, Sawyer, Plant, Harris, Pitts, Chace, Wilder 
and Pollard, all prominent in local history, are of most frequent occurrence in early times 
upon the school registers. 

In 1847, the two districts were united into one under the name of District No. 10, and 
a graded system of schools was established. At this time, graded schools were known 
only in the largest communities in the state. There were three grades in Clintonville. 
Besides the brick house and the primary school house, which had been moved to the north 
part of the district, there was a school-house on the "Berlin Road" and another on Oak 
Street. The second school in this section was made necessary by the starting of Lancas- 
ter Mills. 

In 1846, a private school of a higher grade had been established by Horatio N. Big- 
elow and other citizens. It was kept by Miss Adolphia Rugg in a building erected for 
the purpose at the southwest corner of Walnut and Church Streets. This school became 
the nucleus of the Third School, of which George N. Bigelow was the first teacher. The 
agreement was made that he should be employed by the district to teach the Third School 
in the winter, and should have the use of the building at the corner of Walnut and Church 
Streets for a private school during the rest of the year. The growth of the school was 
such that, in 1849, "the chapel" near the corner of Main and Water Streets was hired for 
its use. The building at the corner of Walnut and Church Streets was given up to the 
Second School. 

Clintonville had one or more members on the school committee of Lancaster from 
1846 to 1850. While this committee managed the intellectual side of education, the 
School District No. 10 managed its own finances, and was the political unit out of which 
the town of Clinton grew. Trouble in regard to the maintenance of a high school in 
Clintonville was one of the causes which led to the separation of Clinton from the mother 
town March 14, 1850. 

No radical changes were made in the school system when the new town was incor- 
porated. In 185 1-2, a school-house was built on Beacon Street and District No. 5 estab- 
lished. This house was moved to Main Street in 1855. In the same year, 185 1-2, a new 
school-house. No. 3, was built.in McCollumville or Scrabble Hollow. From this time on, 
the length of the school year was forty weeks or more. 

The High School building at the corner of Walnut and Church Streets was completed 
in the spring of 1854, at a cost of six thousand dollars. It was at first called the Gram- 
mar School building. Here the Third and Second Schools were united under one princi- 
pal. George N. Bigelow had resigned in 1852, after a most successful administration of 
five years. He had proved a man peculiarly fitted by his calm temperament, his judicial 

■jf, 




HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING i8S|;. 




HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING 1854-18S5. 



School Exercises. 

mind, his varied knowledge, his genial nature and his aptitude for teaching, to give the 
initial impulse to our sjstem of secondary education. He was followed by S. W. Board- 
man, who at the end of a single term was succeeded by Charles W. Walker. 

In 1S54, Josiah S. Phillips, a man of scientific tastes, was made the first principal of 
the combined Third and Second Schools, henceforth known as the Grammar School. 
Here he remained until the winter of 1858-g, and his excellent work exerted a great influ- 
ence on the educational life of the community. Henry S. Nourse of Lancaster finished 
his uncompleted term. The gentle Frederic A. Fiske and Elizabeth S. Owens were prin- 
cipals in succession in 1859. During this year, the Senior Grammar School, by which 
name the department which corresponds to our present High School was then known, 
had an assistant for the first time. From i860 to 1862, the jovial Dana I. Jocelyn was in 
charge of the school; from 1862 to 1S64, the precise Rev. Milan C. Stebbins. It was 
through the work of these two principals that the first regular course of study, tending 
toward a diploma, was established. Helen F. Morgan, Harriet C. Morse and Isadore 
Parker completed this course in the summer of 1864, and were the first graduates. Mr. 
Stebbins had studied deeph' into the theories of education, he was devoted to his pro- 
fession, accurate in his scholarship and methodical in his management of the school. 
Josiah H. Hunt, a strict disciplinarian and a most thorough instructor, was principal from 
1864 to the spring of 1873, when Andrew E. Ford, the present incumbent, was employed. 
The most notable changes during his administration are: the addition of a year to the 
Grammar School course in 1S74, and the consequent raising of the standard of admission 
to the High School; the construction in 1885, at a cost of sixty thousand dollars, of the 
new High School building, which in the simple dignity of its architecture and the perfec- 
tion of its appointments has few superiors; the increase from 1885 to 1898 in the number 
of assistant teachers from one to five, with the greater specialization of work rendered 
possible thereby; the introduction of new branches of study, such as type-writing, sten- 
ography and German, together with the broadening of subjects previously studied; the 
constantly increasing preparation of students for higher institutions of learning; the 
change from two sessions to one in 1895; the quadrupling of the number of pupils. The 
following is a list of assistants in the High School, in the order of service: Martha A, 
Stearns, Lucinda Foster, Harriet A. Rice, Mary H. Stone, Charlotte L. Greene, Sarah E. 
Richardson, Ellen L. Burdett, Minna Rawson, Alice M. Allen, Nina E. Brown, Ella F. 
Averill, Nellie F. Tilton, Lillian E. Downes, Edith J. Ayres, Nellie Kent, Clara A. John- 
son, Helen A. O'Connor, Nellie A. Houghton, Helen E. Day, Henry A. Potter, Alfred 
B. Clement, Eunice R. Pierce, Frederick A. Carpenter, Agnes A. O'Brien. 

When the High School building was constructed at the corner of Walnut and Church 
Streets, the little wooden building, which had previously stood on its site, was moved 
between the churches on Walnut Street and was used for a Primar)' School. In 1856, it 
gave way to the present No. 4 brick building. The next year, a two-roomed brick school- 
house. No. 1, was erected near Lancaster Mills bridge. On account of the hard times and 
slow growth of the town during the Civil War, there was no more building until 1867, 
when No. 6 was constructed on Pleasant Street, at a cost of over fourteen thousand dol- 
lars, a sum largely in excess of that spent for any previous building. The next year came 
No. 2 on Water Street, and three jears later, a second story was added to No. 5. The 
Chestnut Street Grammar School building, erected 1873, cost thirty-eight thousand dollars. 
The Intermediate grades, as they had previously been called, were moved to this build- 
ing from Pleasant Street. The Woodlawn Street house. No. 7, in 1876; the Berlin Street 
and Franklin Street houses, Nos. g and 8, in 1879; each at a cost of between six and seven 

77 



SchooPExcrciscs. 

thousand dollars, form the next group. Then came a long break in the erection of houses 
for lower grades. A new and improved model was adopted for the buildings made in 
the nineties. The Water Street building of 1S92, the High Street building, No. 11, of 
1894, and the Flagg Street building, No. 12, of 1S98, are very much superior in beauty and 
convenience to the houses used by these lower grades in earlier times. The " Grammar 
School" building which has just been completed on the site of the "Old High School 
building" at a cost of about fifty thousand dollars, will also be used in part for Primary 
school work. This building with its ideal accommodations and equipment, crowning the 
work of previous years, gives to Clinton a school property costing as a whole over a quar- 
ter of a million dollars, and makes it the equal of any community in the state in the 
material facilities offered for education. 

The first truant officer, John D. Brigham, was employed in 1871. David H. Hayter 
held this office 1873-5, Abijah Brown in 1876, and Edward F. McCaffrey 1877-1900. 
Music in the higher grades of schools was placed in charge of a special teacher in 1871. 
Later, special instruction was given in all the grades. George Gardner was employed 
1871-8, Eben H. Bailey 1879-83, Jennie A. Burgess 1883-4, Isabella A. Holland 1884-1900. 
Anna H. Whitney became the first teacher of drawing in 1874. She remained until 1879, 
when Mary E. Noyes took up the work. She was followed in one year by Alice Hunt, 
who remained until 1883. There was no special teacher from 1883-1891; then William 
L. Judkins was employed. He has remained to the present time. 

In its school committee, the town has been peculiarly fortunate. For thirteen years 
previous to 1877, Franklin Forbes was a member of the school committee, and for twelve 
of these he was chairman. The development of our school system during the first half 
of our municipal existence was due to him more than to any other citizen. His broad 
culture, his extended experience as a teacher in the best schools of the state, his keen 
insight of human character, his great business ability developed by the management of 
the affairs of an immense corporation, his freedom from bigotry, his warm sympathies, 
his love of children, all united to make him the ideal man to control the educational inter- 
ests of a new town. John T. Dame was a member of the school board for seventeen 
years, during fourteen years of which, he was chairman. Although, in other town matters, 
he was conservative in expenditures, he believed in the most liberal appropriations for 
the schools. He demanded from teachers the same thoroughness of scholarship by which 
he himself was characterized. Every one connected with the schools felt that they could 
rely implicitly on his justice. For the last twenty-five years, John W. Corcoran has 
been a member of the board, and for sixteen years he has been chairman, exceeding in 
length of service as a member and as chairman anj' of his predecessors. The fact that he 
was reelected to this office during the present year by the unanimous vote of both par- 
ties shows the estimation in which his work for the schools is held by his fellow-citizens. 
Thus these three men have guided the course of the schools during forty-two out of the 
fifty years of the town's existence. Joshua Thissell served as a member of the board 
almost a quarter of a century, and as secretary for sixteen years. Thus he performed 
during nearly half of the period preceding the establishment of the superintendency, 
many of the duties which now fall to that department. Charles G. Stevens and his son, 
Edward G. Stevens, the one of whom preceded and the other followed Mr. Thissell, were 
secretaries during most of the remaining time. Among others who have served on the 
board nine years or more, we note the names of Rev. Charles M. Bowers, eleven years, 
chairman one; C. F. W. Parkhurst, thirteen years, chairman one; Henry C. Greeley, thir- 
teen years, chairman one; Wellington E. Parkhurst, sixteen years; Alfred A. Burditt, 

78 



School Exercises. 

nine years; Dr. Philip T. O'Brien, eleven years; John McQuaid, nine years. These thirteen 
men together, including the four previously mentioned, have served an aggregate ot one 
hundred and seventy-three years, and all other men combined have served only one hun- 
dred and twenty-seven years. Clinton has been blessed in the character of the members of 
the school committee no less than in their length of service. There have always been 
members on the board who have had college training. There have been eleven clergy- 
men, eight doctors of medicine, three lawyers, six who have been agents of some one of 
our great corporations, and many of our most prominent men of business. Every citizen, 
no matter what his position, has felt it an honor to be a member of the board, and those 
who have been in service have given freely of their time and energy.* 

A great change was made in our school system in 18S3 by the appointment of a 
superintendent to have direct charge of our educational interests. Able and faithful as 
the work of our school committee had been, yet it was evident that men, absorbed in 
business and professional life, could not give to the schools the attention they demanded. 
S. Arthur Bent became the first superintendent, and to him fell the work of unifj'ing our 
system and of bringing it into accord with the most advanced theories. It was during 
his administration that the free text-book law came into force, and he perfected the 
details of its local application. To him also are due many of the excellent qualities of 
our High School building. After three years of service, he was succeeded by William 
W. Waterman, a man of broad experience in school work and one who was recognized as 
their peer by the foremost educators of the state. The establishment of the parochial 
schools in 1889 and the consequent withdrawal of four hundred pupils from the public 
schools, gave to him the difficult task of re-adjusting the equality of numbers between 
the different schools. In 1889, he was followed by Charles L. Hunt, who has fortunately 
remained with us. He has directed the work of the schools for the past eleven years, 
and their present position, of which we are so justly proud, is largely the result of his 
efforts. The providing of increased accommodations, the beautifying of the school-rooms 
and grounds and the enrichment of the course of study by nature work, literature and 
aesthetics, are among the most striking features of his administration. 

Of the work of the teachers, it is impossible to speak except in the most general 
terms. It has of late been the policy of our school committee to employ as teachers those 
residing in the town, whenever it could be done without detriment to the best interests of 
the schools. The fact that so large a proportion of our teachers have lived at home has 

*Rev. William H. Corning, 1850-2; C. W. Blanchard, 1850-1; Dr. George W. Burdett, 1850-3; Rev. 
Charles M. Bowers, 1850-1, '52-6, '58-66; Charles L. Swan, 1850-1; William W. Parker, 1850-1, '52-4; Autjus- 
tus J. Sawyer, 1850-2; Franklin Forbes, 1851-2, '54-5, '56-61, '68-76; John T. Dame, 185 1-2, '53-4, '56-7, '62-8, 
'74-77. '78-84; Horatio N. Bigelow, 185 1-2, '53-5, '56-8, '59-60; Albert S. Carleton, 1851-2, '54-5, '56-7; Rev. 
William D. Hitchcock, 1852-4; Rev. George Bowler, 1852-3; James Ingalls, 1852-3; Dr. Preston Chamber- 
lain, 1852-3; Rev. Leonard J. Livermore, 1853-6, '57-8; Rev. T. Willard Lewis, 1853-4; Artemas E. Bige- 
low, 1854-60; Dr. George M. Morse, 1854-5, '56-7; Rev. Warren W. Winchester, 1855-6; Rev. Augustus F. 
Bailey, 1855-6; C. F. W. Parkhurst, 1855-6, '62-74; Charles G. Stevens, 1856-62; Josiah H. Vose, 1857-62; 
Henry C. Greeley, 1 85 7-Q, '67-78; Daniel W. Kilburn, 1859-60; Eneas Morgan, 1860-6; Dr. George W. Sy- 
monds, 1860-3; Joshua Thissell, 1861-85; Rev. William Gushing, 1863-7; Rev. James Salla way, 1 866-8; 
Charles L. Swan, 1866-7; Geo. Weeks, 1867-70; Alfred A. Burditt, 1868-77; Wellington E. Parkhurst, 1869-78. 
'82-84, '88-92, '98-99; John W. Corcoran, 1876-1900; Edward G. Stevens, 1877-83, '84-90; Samuel McQuaid, 
1877-81; Rev. Charles Noyes, 1878-82; Rev. Henry L. Foote, 1881; Henry N. Bigelow, 1881-8; Philip T. 
O'Brien, 1883-9, '95-1900; John McQuaid, 1884-95; Frank E. Holman, 1885-90; Edward W. Burdett, 1889- 
q6; Walter R. Dame, 1891-93, '97-1900; Abram W. L. Booth, 1892-6; Dr. Edwin L. Harris, 1892-5; Dr. John 
F. Worcester, 1895-6; Anton W. Wiesman, 1897-1900; Dr. Perley P. Comey, 1897; A. Burnham Allen, 
1898-9; Dr. Clarence H. Bowers, 1898-1900; Dr. Charles L. French, 1899-1900. 

79 



School Exercises. 

tended to a better acquaintance with the conditions surrounding the schools, more local 
patriotism, greater permanencj', and a more complete unity of aim in the teaching force. 
The fact that liberal salaries have been paid and special talents appreciated has also 
tended in the same direction. Several of our teachers have served for over a quarter of a 
century. At the close of last year, 1899, leaving out the three departments recently added 
to the High School, the eleven remaining teachers in the High and Chestnut Street build- 
ings had served as teachers in Clinton schools an average of over twenty j'ears each. The 
law recently made that all candidates for teachers' positions must have a normal school 
diploma, will give the advantage of more complete professional training. The average 
number of scholars to a teacher has been between forty and fifty. Some fift)' teachers 
are now employed. Nowhere can be found a body of women teachers with loftier ideals, 
with greater aptitude for imparting instruction, with more tact in management, with more 
devotion to the interests of their pupils and with higher results to show for their labors. 
The appended list* of the names of teachers will awaken in more than one pupil of former 
days, memories of work and of mischief, of dull catechising and of inspiring direction, of 

* List of teachers below the High School. The names are put in the order of the year of beginning 
service, those who have served ten years but less than twenty, in italics ; those over twenty, in capitals : 

Artemas E. Bigelow, M. A. Price, Jane A. Daniels, R. F. Priest, Sarah A. Colburn, M. A. Boynton, E. 
M. Levering, Harriet F. VVhitcomb, Eliza Crane, Jonathan L. Butler, Emma L. Reeves, Urania E. Ingalls, 
Lucy M. Holman, Perley B. Davis, Levi S. Burbank, Rev. Leonard J. Livermore, Sarah C. Miner, Sarah 
A. Nichols, Mary F. McCoUum, Mrs. C. M. S. Carpenter, Sara A. Cobb, Ellen F. Colburn, Julia J. Haven, 
S. Angenette King, Ellen A. Wright, Celinda P. Gates, Elizabeth L. Gibbs, Louisa L. Swain, Sarah W. Ba- 
ker, Maria F. Hills, Frances A. Lovell, Beulah A. Park, Martha E. Hale, Lucretia S. Morgan, Mira J. 
Sawyer, Victoria E. Gates, Mary F. Stearns, P. A. Barnes, Martha A. Wallace, Abbie H. Stowe, Anna S. 
Harrington, Marietta Jewett, Emma S. Whitcomb, Annie B. Cutter, M. T. Bush, Carrie A. Brigham, Mary 
E. Pease, Lydia J. Derby, Martha A. Stearns, E. Frances Campbell, Lydia S. Willard, Sara C. Woodbury, 
Mary E. Downes, Frances E. Burdett, Mary J. Abbott, Harriet M. Haskell, Carrie E. Goodale, Susan H. 
Hartwell, Elizabeth C. Stearns, Sarah A. Fawcett, Celinda M. Copp, Mary H. Stone, Mary A. Cameron, Abbie 
E. Dame, Ellen A. Maynard, Fannie A. Damon, Sarah Houghton, Mary E. Felton, Sarah A. Childs; Mary 
L. Holman, Lydia A. Bates, Ellen Forbush, Sarah A. Colburn ; Helen M. Stearns, Harriet C. Morse, Sarah 
M. Maynard, Catherine E. Harloiv, Ella J. Freeman, Cornelia V. Bowers, Mary E. Burdett, Nellie M. Rice, 
Harriet M. Bowman, Henrietta E. Parker, Lucina M. Day, Emogene M. Jenkins, Ella M. Palmer, Mary 
G. Whitcomb, Emily J. F. Stewart, Janet Martin, Lena M. Day, Helen E. Day, Nellie L. Burdett, Flora A. 
Hayvi-ard, Mary A. Day, Lillian A. Washburn, Marion A. Gordon, Vesta A. Gray, Agnes R. Dame, Isabel 
N. Jackson, Mary A. Wright, Helen M. Gordon, Emily E. Schumaker, Hattie E. Turner, Addie C. Chace, 
Olive Bastian, Lilla J. Harris, Nellie A. Houghton, Ella M. Austin, Annie E. Stone, Sarah L. Martin, 
Fannie M. Heighway, Alice M. Houghton, Vianna C. Greene, Ada L. Carter, Celia A. Dooley, D. R. 
Lewis, Clara F. Case, M. E. W. Jones, Helen A. Thissell, Marion Wiggin, Nannie E. Parsons, Adelia G. 
Sheehan, Eliza J. Lawler, Alice J. Parsons, Sarah A. Corcoran, Minnie L. O'Brien, Lillian E. Sibley, Alida 
L. Gibbs, Lucy A. Russell, Lizzie E. Winch, Susie M. Thatcher, Etta M. Brov/n, Harriet M. Ruggles, Mar- 
tha B. Burgess, Ina V. Austin, Jessie A. Morgan, Clara L. Shattuck, Grace G. Gage, Mary L. Blenus, Mag- 
gie E. Quirk, Genevieve Allen, Arabella A. Somes, Edith Parsons, Clara Ticknor, Charlotte M. Battles, 
Mary McCann, Hannah M. Walsh, Sarah E. Laird, Cora B. Wheeler, May Parsons, Rose A. CuUen, Ella 
M. Wells, May E. Thomson, Nellie A. Fielding, May E. Tandy, Catherine W. Larkin, Idaho P. Foster, 
Alice A. Grady, Hortense Wiggin, Nellie M. Carter, Annie S. Arno., Alice B. McNab, Isabella Burns, Mary 
McLaughlin, Martha O'Connor, Eva M. Amsden, Lena E. Schmidt, Kate A. Glynn, Eva D. Hall, Susan E. 
Amsden, Ella L. Needham, Nellie Kent, Ellen A. Draper, Edith S. Dunn, Alice G. Hosmer, Addie M. Nod- 
ding, Catherines. O' Toole, Honora A. O' Toole, Sarah C. Watson, Julia M. Walsh. Mary F. Tonry, Delia M. 
Wellington, Mary P. McQuaid, May B. Fairbanks, Julia T. Mclntyre, Annie A. Dervin, Leonora Teasdale, 
Bertha L. Gibson, Bridget Hoban, Agnes F. Carr, Delia J. Killeen, Lillian M. Field, Annie C. Johnson, 
Elnora Sutherland, Celia Carlisle, Bridget M. Padden, Annie O'Malley, Agnes A. Finnerty, A. Florence 
Field, Elizabeth F. Grady, Catherine E. Heagney, Margaret J. Tonry, Catherine L. Burke, Helena C. 
Nugent, Clara A. Fisher, Emma M. Gallagher, Nellie Paine, Charlotte A. Clifford, Alice G. Grady. 

80 





* 



THE FLAGC'j STRHHT SCHOOL-HOUSE. 




THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL-HOUSE. 



School Exercises. 

sharp reproof and of persuasive sympathy, of discouraging failures and of the joj^ful reali- 
zation of newl)- discovered powers. Running through all these memories will be a deep 
consciousness that the teachers were working earnestly and as a whole wisely for the 
welfare of their pupils. 

One of the best measures of the quality of a school system is to be found in the 
desire of the pupils for further education. If the pupils in general leave school at the 
earliest possible moment, something is wrong; but if the training has seemed so attrac- 
tive and profitable that parents and children feel that great sacrifices should be made in 
order that schooling should be continued, then the school S}'stem must have some good 
qualities. Measured by this standard, our schools surely show progress. There has been 
a continued increase in the proportion of members actually attending school to the num- 
ber required by law to do so. Notwithstanding the greater requirements for promotion, 
the numbers in the upper grades have increased more rapidly than those in the lower. In 
the last twenty-five years, the period covered by approximately the same requirements 
for admission to the High School, the average attendance of pupils in the nine lower 
grades has increased about one hundred per cent. During the same time, the average 
attendance in the High School has increased over four hundred per cent. This could 
never have happened if the school had not been made so attractive and profitable to the 
pupils in the lower grades that they desired to continue their connection with it, and their 
parents were anxious that thej' should do so. Meanwhile, the number who complete the 
course in the High School has increased five hundred per cent. The number entering 
colleges and technical schools this year is in excess of the total number entering during 
the first ten years after diplomas began to be given at the High School, 1864-1873, and 
the number entering the Normal Schools is equal to the total number for the first twenty 
years, 1864-1883. During the first ten years, 1864-1873, only eight graduates in all 
entered colleges, technical and normal schools, and less than half of these had completed 
their preparation in the public schools. In 1900 alone, fourteen have been admitted to 
such institutions, all of whom had completed their preparation in the public schools. 

Every school system should be judged by its fruits. The noble record of the pupils 
of earlier years fill many pages of this volume, and their speeches will make up no incon- 
siderable portion of its contents. What work may be done by the pupils of more recent 
times cannot be foretold. But no one who is acquainted with the spirit they have dis- 
played in preparing for that work can doubt that their lives will be full of worthy service.* 

Our day-school system is supplemented by a system of evening schools. The first 
evening schools were kept in Burdett Hall in 1878. Andrew E. Ford was the first prin- 
cipal of the school for males, and is credited by the committee with doing the general 
work of organization. Rev. Charles Noyes was principal of the school for girls, kept on 
alternate evenings with that for males, and William S. Dana of an overflow school for 
males in the Library Building. After several years of fluctuating fortunes, these schools 
finally settled down to regular work four nights in a week in the old High School build- 
ing, and later, in the new High School building. Andrew E. Ford has been principal of 
the united male and female schools for many years. These schools are now in session 
about eighteen weeks in a year. By a state law, all minors employed in our mills who 
are unable to read and write the English language, are obliged to attend. By constant 
immigration the number of such illiterates is usually kept above fifty. Many immigrants 
who are not minors take this opportunity to study English. In 1899, seven nationalities 

* Note. — For further development of the same theme, see response to the toast, " Our Schools," at 
the banquet. 

81 



School Exercises. 

were represented. Many attend to make up deficiencies in their early education, espe- 
ciallj' in the direction of arithmetic and book-keeping. There are also classes in various 
departments of High School work. The evening drawing school, which is independent 
of the other evening school, was established in 1880. It is now under the charge of 
William L. Judkins. It is of special value to the mechanic and is liberally patronized. 

No account of the educational system of Clinton would be complete without a word 
in regard to the Bigelovv Free Public Library. It is not necessary to dwell upon the his- 
tory of the Bigelow Mechanics Institute, started in 1846, or upon that of the Bigelow 
Library Association in which it was merged in 1852. By 1873, this private association 
had accumulated a library of four thousand four hundred and eight volumes. In this 
year, 1873, this library was given to the Town of Clinton under certain conditions. It was 
transferred to rooms prepared for it in the Town Hall building, where it has remained to 
the present time. The board of directors chose Andrew E. Ford as the first librarian, 
and by him the library was arranged and catalogued and the system of circulation inaug- 
urated. He was followed as librarian by Fannie M. Greene in 1874. Charlotte L. Greene 
succeeded in 1886. The library has been liberally supported by the town, and now has 
about twenty-four thousand carefully selected books and an annual home circulation of 
fifty thousand, besides that of the reading room. 

Such in brief is the educational system of Clinton. If it is surpassed by that of any 
other town in the state, it is through no fault of the citizens, for they have always given 
freely all that was asked of them and have taken as their rule of conduct the words of 
Franklin Forbes: "Let us never abandon to a niggardl}' support, these distinguished 
institutions of New England, the public schools and free libraries; let us endow them 
well and keep them in charge of the best teachers and best directors the town can find." 



The graduating exercises of the Clinton High School were originally arranged as a 
part of the Semi-Centennial celebration, but the crowded condition of the program made 
it desirable that they should take place at an earlier date. Occurring, as they did, on 
the evening of June 15, they furnished a fitting prologue to the great anniversary. The 
beautifully decorated hall was filled to overflowing. Principal Andrew E. Ford presided, 
introducing David I. Walsh, Esq., president of the Alumni, as the first speaker. 

He welcomed the members of the class to the ranks of the Alumni. He eloquently 
urged them to be in the future as in the past, tolerant in spirit, free in thought and action. 
Let them strive to appreciate the sacrifices made by their parents for their education and 
to repay the debt. Let them through their labors fulfill the hopes which have been enter- 
tained for their future, and hand down unimpaired the blessings which they have enjoyed. 

Professor Edwin A. Grosvenor of Amherst College, a descendant of John Prescott, 
the pioneer, was the orator of the evening. His theme was "The Heritage of the Ameri- 
can Citizen." In his introduction, he emphasized the thought that the best fruitage of 
municipal life is to be found in the manhood and womanhood it produces, and that, 
therefore, the graduating exercises of its schools might well be considered the most char- 
acteristic part of a town's anniversary. He asserted that though our land was great and 
beautiful and our material wealth was boundless, yet these were as nothing compared to 
the heritage of ideas which have become the working principles of our lives. To teach 
these ideas is the chief work of the schools. After touching lightly upon the heritage 
of ideas which our forefathers brought with them from the Old World, such as representa- 
tive government, trial by jury and the supremacy of law, he discussed the six great ideas 

82 



School Exercises. 

which have been developed in America and handed down to the present generation as a 
birthright. These ideas are the distinctive characteristics of our people. They are: 
political equality; freedom of thought, expression, personality; the recognition of the prin- 
ciple that government of the people must be by the people and for the people; the har- 
monious coordination of Church and State in distinction from their unity; the assimula- 
tion and consequent elevation of immigrant races; the mission of spreading throughout 
the world the civilization which we enjoy. All these thoughts were enforced with great 
wealth of illustration, cogency of reasoning and keenness of wit. 

Hon. John W. Corcoran, chairman of the school committee, spoke of the long suc- 
cession of classes to the members of which it had been his duty and privilege to give 
diplomas. " If it were possible," he said, " to arrange a procession of all these pupils who 
have received the benefits of our schools through the half century of Clinton's existence, 
this would be the noblest feature of the Semi-Centennial celebration, and would exhibit, 
as no other feature can do, the result of our municipal life." He congratulated the class 
of 1900 on being the largest, forty-three in number, that had ever received diplomas, and 
briefly pointed out the ways in which the graduates might be of the greatest service to 
their town and to the world. 



On Sunday evening, the skies were lowering and it was feared that on the following 
day the weather would be such as to render it impossible to carry out the program 
planned; but when the morning came, the heavens were unclouded and the air was cool 
and bracing. It was a perfect day. At eight-thirty a. m., a delegation of some two hun- 
dred students from the High and Grammar Schools went in electric cars and on bicycles 
to the grave of John Prescott, the pioneer, in the Old Lancaster Cemetery. A large 
coachload of scholars from the Parochial School had preceded them. The simple beauty 
of the cemeter}', with its outlook on the river intervale and the hills beyond, with its nat- 
ural groups of trees and with its greensward dotted with ancient gravestones telling the 
story of the distant past, added effect to the words of the speaker, as he so clearly por- 
trayed the life of one who was sleeping there. 

ADDRESS OF HON. HENRY S. NOURSE. 

Youth of Clinton : It seems to me a highly appropriate feature of Clinton's Semi- 
Centennial commemoration exercises, that you, who are the hope and the promise of the 
town's future progress and prosperity, should come to this humble grave to pay a tribute 
of respect to the memory of John Prescott, the pioneer, who built the first home upon 
Clinton soil. John Prescott, the founder of Lancaster, Cromwellian soldier, blacksmith, 
farmer, surveyor, builder of bridges, roads and mills, was also preeminently the founder 
of Clinton, and you rightly honor him as such. 

Two hundred and fifty-five years ago, a few days earlier in the summer than this, a 
little group of English people bade farewell to their home and neighbors in Watertown, 
and set out westward through the wilderness towards Wachusett to build a new home. At 
the head of the group strode the stalwart father, a maa forty years of age, stern of visage, 
with fierce determination written in eye and mien, for such was John Prescott as tradition 
paints him. Leaving England for conscience sake, he had first sought a dwelling place 
in Barbadoes, then later in Watertown, and now he had bought lands in the pleasant 
valley of the Nashaway of the Indian sagamore, Sholan. Following the father came the 
mother riding upon a horse, with an infant in her arms, and behind with other horses 
eame four girls, aged s'm., eight, thirteen and fifteen years, and a boy of ten. They wended 

83 



School Exercises. 

their way through the woodland by the bUnd Indian trails, until they came to the broad 
and treacherous Sudbury marsh and its little river ; and here their journey came near 
ending in tragedj'. The river was swollen by a freshet so that the horses had to swim, 
and the mother and young girls were barely saved from drowning. At last, they safely 
reached this valley. Their few household goods and chattels had been sent thither upon 
horses' backs a few days before. The Prescotts placed their new hearthstone in a log 
cabin on the slope of the George Hill range, where now stand the Maplehurst stables of 
Col. Thayer, and there they lived for eight or nine years, and many other pioneers gath- 
ered about them. 

This broad intervale which you see before you was Prescott's field, and here the first 
year of his coming he planted corn. This river which flows through it, in the spring time, 
then abounded in salmon, shad and alewives. The salmon and shad were valued for 
human food. The smaller fish were chiefly used as a fertilizer. In every hill of corn was 
planted, after the Indian fashion, an alewive, and it made the grain grow luxuriantly. Thus 
the pioneers had for food, plenty of fish from the streams, plenty of game from the for- 
est, and plenty of corn from their planting ground for bread. But that corn had to be 
parched and pounded into meal in hand mortars, or carried all the long forest journey 
upon horses' backs to the Watertown mill to be ground. Prescott resolved that Lancaster 
should have a mill of its own. He saw that the little falls of the South Meadow brook, 
where now the Clinton Worsted Mill stands, was the most available site for a water mill in 
all this valley. There, a very short dam would secure an ample reservoir and a fall of more 
than twenty-five feet. There in 1654, he built a grist-mill, and on the hill slope near by 
set up his new roof tree, the first in Clinton's territory. There he died, respected of all, 
in 1681. 

Prescott's hearthstone was the foundation of Clinton. You look here upon his very 
humble grave. Its headstone is but a rough fragment of some slate ledge. Upon it was 
scratched, with blacksmith's hammer and chisel probably, the words : John Prescott 
Desased. The footstone is shattered and gone. It was so when I was a child. Upon 
that, doubtless, was inscribed the date of his death, as was usual at that time. You have 
noticed that over this grave, as well as over the other ancient graves about it, there is a 
huge flat slab of slate. These, it is supposed, were so placed to prevent the wolves, which 
were then not rare, from digging up the bodies. 

And now, you may ask, was this miller and blacksmith who was laid in so lowly a 
grave, s. great man, that you should be enjoined to honor his memorj'. He was, first of 
all, a. good man. We know that, for John Eliot, "the Apostle to the Indians," was his 
friend. He was also in some true sense a great man. He did not lead armies like Caesar 
or General U. S. Grant ; he did not rule a nation like Washington ; he was not a public 
orator like Cicero ; nor did he write immortal poetry like Tennyson or Longfellow. No, 
he was great because he simply labored unselfishly and honestly for the public good when 
the opportunity came to him, with never any fear of man, but always in the fear of God. 

After the address was over the scholars could linger but a moment, and they soon 
passed out through the quaint gateway from the seventeenth century, with its stern, rude 
struggle for existence, to the electric cars and bicycles, so typical of the closing j'ears of 
the nineteenth. 

It was alread)' ten o'clock, when the delegation reached the High School building, 
so it was necessary for them to form immediately into line for the dedication of the 
memorial tablets. The order of the program was strictly followed and need not be 

84 




HOUSE OF JOHN PRESCOTT. 




GRAVE OF JOHN PRESCOTT, THE PIONEER. 



School Exercises. 

repeated. The Saletn Cadet Band, which had arrived on morning train, furnished music 
such as is seldom heard in Clinton. After the police, the marshal, the band, the carriages, 
came the classes of the High and Grammar Schools in order, with that of igoo first. The 
girls of this class of 1900 wore the cap and gown. These were of black, with a tassel of 
the class colors, nile green and white, upon the cap. A reporter stated that on account 
of their black garb and dignified bearing some of the spectators called them " the widows," 
a title which they "indignantly repudiated." The class of 1901 wore uniforms of the 
school colors, purple and white. The uniforms of the class of 1902 were red and white, 
those of the class of 1903 were yellow and white. The girls of the Grammar grades were 
in white. The girls of the Parochial School were in white and blue. The schools car- 
ried banners and flags which added to the variety of the color effect. The schools all 
marched well, having been previously drilled by Lieutenant Martin J. Healey and other 
members of Company K. Some of those in line, as they marched along in time to the 
swelling music, doubtless felt the full significance of the event. It was the Clinton of 
the future paying its tribute to and learning its lesson from the Clinton of the past, while 
the Clinton of the present looked on in glad approval. It was our second half-century 
clasping hands with the first. 

Near the site of the first Prescott Home, the long line was formed into a compact 
body, with the band and carriages in front. The bronze tablet erected here is twenty- 
three inches by fourteen, with the inscription as follows : 



1654 


NEAR THIS SPOT STOOD 

THE HOUSE BUILT BY 

JOHN PRESCOTT IN 1654. 

BURNED BY THE INDIANS 

IN 1676. 


1900 



DEDICATION ADDRESS OF JUDGE CHRISTOPHER C. STONE. 

I consider it a privilege as well as a pleasure to say a few words to you this morning 
in regard to the first home established within the limits of the town of Clinton. Nearly 
two hundred and fifty years ago the stalwart blacksmith, John Prescott, whose grave you 
have visited this morning, built a log house near where this tablet has been placed. The 
precise spot is unknown, but it matters not just where it stood or what its e.xact surround- 
ings were. It was the humble home to which John Prescott, then a man about fifty years 
of age, brought his wife and family. There were seven children, the oldest twenty-two 
years, the )-oungest six. For a moment contrast this home with the comfortable ones 
you enjoy. It was surrounded by a dense forest. No roads, no schools, no churches, and 
Indians and wild beasts roamed the forest at will. The nearest white neighbors were 
more than a mile away. Two families of the Nashaway tribe of Indians lived beside the 

85 



School Exercises. 

brook just above the village of Duck Harbor. They were their nearest neighbors, and so 
far as we know they lived in peace with each other. Here for twenty-two years the 
founder of Lancaster lived. His children grew up about him. The daughters married and 
left for homes of their own. In February, 1876, the Indians, led by King Philip, attacked 
this home, now grown to become a garrison house, and although the attack was success- 
fully resisted, the destruction of Lancaster was so nearly accomplished that Prescott aban- 
doned his home and the Indians completed the work of destruction. Three years later, 
John Prescott having a strong attachment to this location, returned, rebuilt his house and 
mill, and died here in 1681. 

To me, for I have watched the growth from my boyhood of the many pleasant homes 
in our beautiful town, the dedication of this tablet erected in memory of the first home 
is an inspiring ceremonj'. When I contrast that rude and humble house with the beauti- 
ful ones that now adorn our streets and hillsides, I feel an admiration amounting almost 
to reverence for these hardy pioneers who laid sure foundations for the Clinton of today. 
For nearly one hundred and fifty j-ears, the Prescott family was the leading one in this 
part of Lancaster, and to their persistent energj- was largely due the early development 
of the industries which have since made Clinton so widely known. The last John Pres- 
cott, fifth of the same name, died childless in the old home, standing in the rear of the 
brick block opposite, and the estate passed into the hands of strangers. 

Now, the thought I wish you might take away with you this morning is the value and 
influence of the home, and may I trust that in your mature years, the homes and welfare 
of this town will become as dear to you as they have been to me for a long lifetime. 

Accompanied by the band, the schools sang, "The First of our Homes" to the tune 
of "Fair Harvard." This song and the three others that follow were written for these 
exercises by Andrew E. Ford. 

The first of our homes has made sacred this ground; 

Here the fire on the hearthstone first burned; 
Here hearts first by ties of close kindred were bound; 

Here the lessons of love were first learned: 
The mother's affection, the father's stern care, 

And the filial devotion repaid; 
The joys which the brothers and sisters all share. 

And the confidence never betrayed. 

Oh dawning and type of the blessings of home! 

With what radiance shines their clear light, 
How they beam o'er our pathway where ever we roam, 

How the)- cheer us with memories bright! 
They save from temptation, from evil reclaim; 

They allure to the lovely and true; 
They glow in our hearts like an altar's pure flame; 

Tinge the present with heaven's own hue. 

The line of march was then resumed. It soon passed the spot where Prescott's grist- 
mill had stood. The crowded condition of the narrow street with its line of electric cars 
made it undesirable to mass the scholars at this point for dedicatory exercises. Here a 
tablet of the same size as that at Prescott's first home had been placed upon the office 
building of the Clinton Worsted Company, which now occupies the site of the ^ncient 
grist-miU, 

18^ 



H 

m 

n 

r; 

z 

H 
O 



o 

H 

m 

D 

O 

o 

> 

z 




School Exercises. 



1654 


THIS TABLET MARKS THE 

SITE OF THE FIRST GRIST 

MILL IN WORCESTER 

COUNTY. BUILT BY 

JOHN PRESCOTT IN 1654. 


1900 



It is to be remembered that this mill-)ard is not only the site of the first grist-mill in 
Worcester County, but also of the first cotton mill in this section of the State, and one of 
the first in America where cotton cloth was entirely made under a factory system, also of 
the first mill in the world where counterpanes were successfully woven by power other 
than that of human muscle; also, that it is now the site of the most thriving of the indus- 
tries recently started started among us. 

The location of the first school was only a short distance beyond. Here, the open 
square gave abundant opportunity for the grouping of the scholars in the .same manner 
as at the first home. As there was no building at this point to which the tablet could be 
attached, a suitable stone had been set in the curbing of the sidewalk. This tablet is 
eighteen inches by ten and one-half. 



1800 


SITE OF FIRST SCHOOL 

HOUSE ERECTED IN 

CLINTON APRIL 5, 1800. 

LANCASTER DIST. NO. 8. 


1900 



Dr. Clarence H. Bowers, a member of the school committee, made the dedicatory 
address. 

Mr. Chairman, Students and Scholars of the Public Schools : 

We have viewed with interest the place, and heard with satisfaction the fitting words 
of our fellow-citizen where was established the first home. We have noted with like 
interest the site of the founding of the first characteristic industry. We now come to 
what might fairly be called the third foundation stone of our social and municipal life and 
growth, the first school. The Home, the Industry and the School ; in this triple basis 
lay the foundation for the building of a large and prosperous community. It is somewhat 
remarkable that the same division of time which accords our town fifty years of incorp- 

87 (7) 



School Exercises. 

orate life, also marks the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of our schools. The 
initial act which brought into existence a structure representing ana devoted to the cause 
of public education, occurred in March, 1800. Upon that date, through an urgent appeal 
of the early settlers, a meeting of the voters of the school district was called. A grant 
of two hundred dollars was allowed, afterward supplemented with an added appropria- 
tion of twelve dollars and seventy cents. With this modest sum, a modest structure was 
erected — modest, indeed, in its outline and substance — a small beginning, measured by 
the standard of today, but in its relation to the growth and development of later times, 
who can measure its significance and import? Here, in that structure and upon this spot 
were laid the foundations of a system whose history and expanding growth has been the 
history and growth of this community ; has covered the valleys and crowned the hills of 
one of the largest towns of our county and state with spacious, ornamental and substan- 
tial structures, forming a creditable part of that greater system which has made for 
Massachusetts a glorious name and a reputation world-wide for the Commonwealth. 

In the fruit of our looms and various manufacturing industries, we take deep interest, 
a just and pardonable pride. In the products of our schools, we see a more glorious 
fruitage in the manhood, womanhood, intelligence and public spirit of its sons and 
daughters. These are products in which we take just pride, a return of many hundred 
fold for the cherishing care of its public servants and liberal investment of public funds. 
Today, we read in the fulfillment of the promise of the past a re-echoed promise of a 
broader, grander future for the children's children of our fair town. Thus fitting to the 
occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the town, and the centennial of our public schools, 
gathered here as scholars, citizens and representatives of the town, we dedicate to the 
cherished memories of the past and a sacred place in the heart of every future loyal son 
and daughter of our public schools, on this historic spot, this tablet of bronze and endur- 
ing monument of stone. 

The song, "The First of Our Schools," sung to the tune of America, followed : 

For Thy protecting care. 
We raise our grateful prayer. 

Our hearts are Thine. 
Here first a youthful band. 
Gathered by Thy command. 
Drew wisdom from Thy hand. 

Father divine. 

Oh, bless the common school. 
And all its counsels rule. 

Make straight its way. 
To truth its students guide ; 
Let love prevail o'er pride; 
May all in Thee abide 

The perfect day. 

As the line reached the Town Hall on its return march, an immense crowd was found 
waiting to receive it. The exercises here opened with the singing of "Clinton Fair," to 
the tune of "Maryland, My Maryland." 

For thee, our hymns of praise we bring, 

Clinton fair! Our Clinton fair ! 
With joy in thee, our voices ring, 

Clinton fair! Our Clinton fair! 



School Exercises. 

From thee our greatest blessings spring ; 
To thee in love, thy children cling ; 
As now with grateful hearts, we sing, 
Clinton fair! Our Clinton fair! 

Weave thou unfading wreaths of fame, 

Clinton fair! Our Clinton fair! 
For all from whom thy glories came, 

Clinton fair! Our Clinton fair! 
Sing forth their praise with loud acclaim, 
Who wrought in peace thj- spotless name 
Or served in war with hearts aflame, 

Clinton fair! Our Clinton fair! 

To thee, we here devote our might, 

Clinton fair! Our Clinton fair! 
For thee, we'll work ; for thee, we'll fight, 

Clinton fair! Our Clinton fair! 
Ma}- God make all thy future bright. 
Illume thy pathway by His light. 
And keep thee ever to the right, 

Clinton fair! Our Clinton fair! 

Standing near the Soldier's Monument, General John W. Kimball, now state auditor, 
addressed the scholars and surrounding multitude on the relation of the Town to the 
Nation. It was peculiarly appropriate that he should do so, as he had been associated 
with so many Clinton soldiers in the Civil War. As an officer of the old Ninth Regiment, 
he had seen the patriotic zeal of the men, while waiting for their summons to the field. 
As as officer of the Fifteenth, he had been with them during the days of preparation at 
Camp Scott in Worcester, and during the watch on the Potomac at PoolesviUe. He had 
tried to avert the disaster at Ball's Bluff, whence so many Clinton men were taken pris- 
oners to Richmond. He had participated in the Peninsular Campaign, and as commander 
had led in the gallant fight at Fair Oaks, in the return to the Potomac to head off the 
advancing forces of the enemy, at Antietam, with its glorious heroism and terrible losses, 
and in the forward movement to the Rappahannock. Here, he had left the regiment, 
being called to other fields, but he followed it in sympathy through all its later cam- 
paigns. He had also been the colonel of the Fifty-third, in which so many Clinton men 
had enlisted, during its whole nine months of service in the torrid heat along bayous of 
Louisiana, and in the siege of Port Hudson. No one was better fitted than he to tell 
the grand story of these Clinton patriots, or to urge upon the youth before him the 
duty of answering as nobly as their fathers the call of country, either in war or peace. 
The speech was such as might be expected from such a man on such an occasion. Unfor- 
tunately it was extemporaneous, neither was it taken by a stenographer at the time of 
delivery, therefore, as he cannot reproduce it, we are obliged to forego the pleasure of 
entering it here. 

The school sang "To Thee, O Country;" "Union and Liberty." 

As a representative of the Town and of the School Committee, Hon. John W. 
Corcoran spoke as follows : 

My Young Friends: 

I congratulate you upon the good fortune that gives you the opportunity of par- 
ticipating in these exercises. It has never fallen to the lot of other scholars of the public 

89 



School Exercises. 

schools to take part in the celebration of the birthday of their town, and I desire not only 
to congratulate you upon the opportunity to celebrate, but upon the splendid contribu- 
tion you have made to the exercises of the morning. Your costumes, in varied colors, 
your alignment in the procession, and your orderly conduct, must bring pride and pleas- 
ure to your parents and towns-people. I know I speak the uniform sentiment of the 
school committee when I assure you of the gratification they feel in your performance. 
I trust, however, that you will appreciate the fact that the ceremonies which you have 
attended furnish lessons full of patriotic instruction and suggestion. The tablets which 
mark the first home, the first mill and the first school-house ought to teach of the virtues, 
the industry and the desire for learning of the founders of Clinton, the advantages of 
whose labors you have so fully enjoyed. The little school-house, with its hard benches 
and scanty furnishings, ought to remind you, by contrast, of the splendid edifices and 
generous accommodations afforded by )'our town for your training and advancement. It 
was for no idle purpose that the first school-house was built. The early settlers, few in 
number and widely scattered, realized that education was essential, not only for the prac- 
tical affairs of life, but likewise for the faithful performance of the duties of citizenship. 
In a town like ours, where every citizen is entitled to all the privileges that the munici- 
pality affords, it is essential that he should be educated in those qualities of head and 
heart which will teach their uses and obligations. These lessons were taught to their 
children at much sacrifice, and under trying difficulties; but the end justified the means, 
and the results to be obtained warranted the outlay. 

The importance of training and education as qualifications for citizenship and for the 
performance of the other duties of life can never be over-estimated, and, I fear, is seldom 
fully appreciated. Your lines have fallen in pleasant places. You are exceedingly for- 
tunate to be children of this beautiful town, with its wealth of natural scenery, its spacious 
streets, handsome school-houses, and attractive public buildings. In addition, you have 
the charming park behind you, where you can rest, and the beauties of nature upon which 
to feast your eyes. In a word, you have everything to make your lot enviable, so far as 
your town is concerned, and I sincerely hope )ou will appreciate every opportunity, real- 
ize every possibility, and in your patriotic efforts emulate the example of its founders. 

This part of the exercises closed with the singing of "Clinton Marches On," to tiie 
tune of "Battle Hymn of the Republic." 

With peal of bells and roar of guns 

Call forth the happy throng; 
Let our streets be decked with beauty, 

Let our hearts be full of song; 
For God has blessed our dear old town 

And made her great and strong. 

And Clinton marches on. 

Chorus. — Glory, glory hallelujah! 
Glory, glory hallelujah! 
Glory, glory hallelujah! 
And Clinton marches on. 

We glory in the record grand, 

Of men who wrought of old 
To lay the deep foundations 

Which our civic life uphold, 

90 



School Exercises. 

And every noble deed of theirs, 
We'll write in words of gold, 
As Clinton marches on. — Cho. 

Through faith some conquered nature 

And withstood their savage foes; 
Some fought with tyrant England; 

Some repulsed the Southron's blows; 
For countr)', some gave up their lives 

Where tropic sunshine glows, 

And Clinton marches on. — Cho. 

Thank God for flying shuttles, 

Throbbing engines, busy mart. 
Free schools, true homes, pure churches. 

Growing mind and loving heart. 
Thank God for all the blessings 

Which to us he doth impart, 

As Clinton marches on. — Cho. 

The music was all under the direction of the music teacher, Miss Isabella A. Hol- 
land. Although the pupils had not been able to rehearse with the band before the exer- 
cises, yet such had been their previous training, and they sang with so much spirit, that 
their enthusiasm became contagious, and the audience was swept along with the full tide 
of song. 

As the procession moved up Church Street to Chestnut, its number was increased 
fourfold by the addition of the lower grades, which had been waiting in Central Park. 
At the intersection of these streets, the procession was reviewed by General John W. Kim- 
ball, who expressed the highest admiration for its appearance and the spirit by which its 
members seemed to be animated. The line of twenty-four hundred pupils, though march- 
ing compactly by fours, was over a half mile in length. It was a revelation to some of 
our people, who had never seen the school children together before. More than one 
exclaimed: "It is no wonder there is a call for more school-houses." The little folks 
especially entered into the affair with great enthusiasm, and doubtless many parents, 
proud of their children and rejoicing in their pleasure, found this the most delightful part 
of the celebration. To the thoughtful, it surely had the deepest import. 

The march was so short, through Chestnut, Water, Walnut and Union Streets, that 
though the movement was slow enough to accommodate the youngest, yet it was soon 
over and the lined filed into the picnic grounds. The use of these had been generously 
given by Patrick F. Cannon, Patrick F. Coyne, the St. John's Parish and the Presbyterian 
Society. The younger children grouped themselves at once by schools under the more 
distant trees, while the older students sung one more song, "Praise ye the Father." Then, 
the Grammar School pupils found their places of rest, while the scholars of the High 
School prepared to serve a lunch to the others. The girls of the High School had previ- 
ously solicited cake or money from the families of the town and had met with a most 
liberal response. As a result, an abundant supply of cake and bananas had been pro- 
vided. It had seemed to those who had been at work since early morning cutting the 
hundreds upon hundreds of loaves of cake which the boys were bringing in, that they 
could never be eaten, for these loaves were most generous in size and rich in quality. 
Some seventy girls or more, each took a large market basket, heaped to the handle with 
this cake, among the waiting children. In ten minutes, they came back with scarcely a 

91 



School Exercises, 

crumb left. Then, they carried out baskets of bananas. In the meantime, some two hun- 
dred and fifty gallons of lemonade, in the making of which, three boxes of lemons had 
been used, were distributed by the High School boys, till the last drop was gone. Then 
a souvenir, a jar of opalescent glass, rich with gilding, bearing the dates 1850-1900, and 
the words "Clinton Semi-Centennial," and ornamented with a half-tone picture of the 
High School building, was presented to each pupil, and this part of the celebration was 
over. 

A lady who had watched the children on the picnic grounds voiced the sentiments of 
many when she said: "It was the most pleasing sight I ever saw." The words of Tenny- 
son may be fitly applied to it: 

" For all the sloping pasture murmured, sown 
With happy faces and with holiday." 

A Boston Transcript editorial note says: "That was a good idea of the people of 
Clinton in celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of municipal existence, of having the chil- 
dren of the place take a prominent part in the exercises of the day. The dedication of 
memorial tablets will mean much more to the future citizens of Clinton than it does now, 
and it is fitting that the children should have a hand in the erection of these permanent 
memorials of Clinton's past." 

The Boston Globe, in a three-column article on these exercises, states: "Today has 
been devoted almost exclusively to a proper consideration of Clinton's most precious 
jewels — her children, and they have been made particularly happy by the prominence 
given them in the program for the observance of the jubilee, and most creditably did they 
carry out the somewhat arduous duty assigned them. * * * The parade of the chil- 
dren was one of the prettiest spectacles ever witnessed in this region, and they were 
repeatedly applauded by twenty thousand enthusiastic spectators as they marched over 
the route." 

The Worcester Telegram was no less complimentary: " It was the day of the schools, 
and the rising generation rose to the occasion and covered itself and the town with glory. 
The pupils turned out in a mass and marched well, and made the hearts of their parents 
and big brothers and sisters swell with pride as they marched past the crowd on the side- 
walks. * * « The line of twenty-five hundred school children, enough to fill up a 
brigade as the companies are formed in times of peace, stretched out for a long distance, 
but the marching was good, and the smallest child in the line marched as if the appear- 
ance of the whole Semi-Centennial rested on his devoted shoulders." 



92 



<Qr^ 




HISTORIC LOAN EXHIBITION. 

jV/TONDAY, at two-thirty p. m., a concert was given by the Salem Cadet Band on the 
•'■ •*■ lawn of the Town Hall and Unitarian Church. Hundreds listened to the music from 
the neighboring Park, while hundreds more took the opportunity of visiting the Historic 
Loan Exhibition in the vestry of the Unitarian Church. A reception to invited guests, 
especially to former residents, was held here during the afternoon. The place was well 
fitted for such a reception, since the returning sons and daughters of the town found here 
not only many of the living friends of earlier days, but also, in the portraits and the relics, 
they found abundant reminders of the past. The person wandering about the rooms 

would get bits of conversation like these: "Your maiden name was , but I can't 

recall whom you married." "That big fellow your son! You don't say so! I suppose 
you try to make him think you were a saint when you were a boy? I think I will give 
him a few points that will open his eyes a bit." " If that isn't a picture of Philander 
Morse! I haven't thought of him for forty years." "Say, Joe, have you noticed this pho- 
tograph of ■ in this Company C album? He looks exactly as he did five min- 
utes before he was shot at Antietam." 

The story of the Loan Collection is like that of many other features in the celebra- 
tion, in that it began with indifference except on the part of a very few. This indifference 
gradually gave way to enthusiasm and earnest work until a success was realized which 
amazed the people who began by saying: "A loan collection may be well enough for an 
old town like Lancaster or Framingham, but Clinton is a new town and has no historj-. 
There are no old families here to provide material for such an exhibition." These peo- 
ple little knew what twenty-five determined women could do. If they had found no past, 
they would had created one. When the committee was first organized, all was uncertaint}'. 
No one knew where the best articles for exhibition were to be found. An appeal was 
made through the press that those who had such articles in their possession should make 
the fact known. Then the town was divided into districts which were carefully canvassed. 
Valuable treasures were often unearthed where it was least expected they would be found. 
All were ready to loan whatever they had and to give every assistance in their power. 
The Unitarian Society gave the use of their vestry and ladies' rooms for the exhibition. 
These were perfectly adapted to the needs of the committee in location, size and arrange- 
ment. The show-cases used in the Worcester East Fair were also freely loaned. Only 
those who helped to collect, arrange and return the articles exhibited can realize the 
immense labor involved, but this was done with such care that no article was injured or 
failed to be returned to its owner. 

Although Clinton is essentially a town of the present and future, yet as a community 
it has a record that will compare favorably with that of many towns of boasted antiquity. 
To the observant mind instructed in its history, this exhibition hel[)ed in a remarkable 
degree to recall and illustrate this record. Here was a portion of the first millstone of 
Worcester County, upon which John Prescott ground the corn of all the neighboring coun- 
try almost two centuries and a half ago. Here was a picture of the house of Ebenezer 

93 



Historic Loan Exhibition. 

Allen, the Revolutionary patriot, who played such an important part in the course of 
events at home, while his six sons served in the army. It is probable that slaves were 
kept in this house also, as the Aliens had a negro man-servant and maid-servant who may 
have belonged to this class. In this house lived near the beginning of this century, Moses 
Emerson, the aristocrat, who "kept his coach," and here settled the first of our line of 
Howards in 1825. In the collection were to be seen many portraits and relics of the 
comb-makers, the Burdetts, Lowes, Harrises and many others, whose products first 
brought this district into commercial relations with the rest of the country. Here was 
the key of the first school-house of District No. 8, afterwards No. 10, and the picture of 
the old brick school-house which followed it, where so many of those who helped to 
mould the destiny of our town received their early education. Here was the table of 
Poignand, the Huguenot. We can easily imagine the "urbane gentleman" in his queue and 
antique garb, seated beside it, discussing with his son-in-law and partner, the Englishman 
Samuel Plant, the affairs of their cotton factory near by on South Meadow Brook, one of 
the first, as has already been noted, in America. Perhaps by this table sat Colonel 
Thomas Aspinwall, who was afterwards for more than a third of our nation's history our 
consul in London, whither he carried as his bride the daughter of this David Poignand. 
The exhibition abounded in specimens of our early manufactures made on the first power 
looms for weaving such goods that the world had known. Here was coachlace, which 
revived not alone the memories of the old "yellow mill," but also of the days of coaches, 
when John C. Stiles used to set out with his merry load for Worcester. Here were coun- 
terpanes, suggesting the boy, Erastus B. Bigelow, examining the hand-woven fabric under 
which he slept and working at his first great invention. Here is the first piece of Brussels 
carpeting even woven on the new power loom. With what pride, John J. Boynton used to 
tell how he wove it! Here was the first post-office box used in Clintonville, when Horatio 
N. Bigelow was postmaster. Here were the books of Company C of the Fifteenth Regi- 
ment, which followed from Ball's Bluff to Petersburg the fortunes of as brave a body of 
men as any town ever sent to the service of the country. Here was a machete, a relic of 
no less valiant service in recent years. If we lingered to note every article and the mem- 
ories it awakened, our volume would be filled. " No historj'!" Let the captious critic 
remember that history is not measured by years, but by deeds tending toward human 
progress, and name, if he can, any town having memorials of more interesting or worthy 
contributions to civilization. 

The collection of the portraits of old residents were the most valuable part of the 
exhibition from the standpoint of local history. It is difficult to resist the temptation to 
pause and study these faces, and search out in them the characteristics of those men and 
women who have made our town what it is. There were one hundred and sixty-three of 
these portraits in all, a wonderful collection to be made in so short a time. The list of 
these is appended, together with some stanzas written by Fannie A. Damon : 

OLD PORTRAITS. 

From walls of parlor and study, 

From every corner and nook; 
They are brought, these portraits olden, 

On which we delight to look. 
The young in the pride of manhood. 

The grey-haired sire and wife. 
Who have passed from out earth's shadows, 

To the light of heavenly life. 

94 



Early Professional Men of Clinton. 



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JOHN T. DAMH, ESQ. CHARLES G. STEVENS, ESQ. 

GEORGE M. MORSE, M. D. GEORGE W. BUREjETT, M. D. 

REV. RICHARD J. PATERSON. CHARLES M. BOWERS, D. D. 



Historic Loan Exhibition. 

And for these, who have cleared the pathway, 

In which, we walk today, 
We would twine a wreath of remembrance 

And garland their brows with bay. 
For the}' were the brave, strong hearted, 

The founders of our town; 
Who strove not for honor or glory, 

Or to win the world's renown. 

Who boasted not of their conquests; 

Who gloried not in the fall 
Of the leading ones in power; 

But who labored each and all 
To raise a goodly structure, 

One that would long endure. 
Perfect in its proportions, 

In its foundation, sure. 

Lovers of law and order, 

The)' strove to sow with care 
The seeds of truth and temperance. 

Within their borders fair; 
That they might yield a harvest. 

For future hands to reap, 
A store of richest treasure, 

That would forever keep. 



Alexander, Josiah 
Barnard, Capt. Jeremiah 
Beaven, Samuel 
Bemis, Daniel H. 
Bigelow, Artemas E. 
Bigelow, Erastus B. 
Bigelow, Horatio N. 
Bigelow, Mrs. Polly 
Bowman, Simeon 
Boyce, Father John 
Boynton, John J. 
Brigham, Davis 
Brigham, Mrs. Davis 
Brigham, Miss Frances 
Brimhall, Elisha 
Brown, Herbert J. 
Brown, Joshua R. 
Brown, Mrs. Joshua R. 
Burdett, Dr. George W. 
Burdett, (Deacon) John 
Burdett, Nathan 
Burdett, Mrs. Nathan 
Burdett, Nathan, Jr. 
Burdett, Mrs. Nathan, Jr, 
Burdett, William 
Burdett, Mrs. William 
Butler, Amos 
Butler, Mrs. Amos 
Buzzell, John P. 



PICTURES. 

Buzzell, Mrs. John P. 
Bynner, Edwin 
Chamberlain, Dr. Preston 
Chenery, Seth 
Clifford, William 
Clough, James 
Clough, Mrs. James 
Coolidge, Ira 
Coolidge, Mrs. Ira 
Crossman, A. W. 
Grossman, Mrs. A. W. 
Dakin, Archelaus C. 
Dinsmore, George W. 
Dinsmore, Mrs. George W. 
Eaton, William 
Eaton, Mrs. William 
Eddy, Henry 
Field, Charles W. 
Finnic, James B. 
Finnie, Robert J. 
Fisher, Dexter 
Forbes, Franklin 
Foster, John R. 
Freeman, Mrs. Mehitabel 
Fuller, Lieut. Andrew L. 
Goodale, William 
Goodale, Mrs. William 
Goss, G. Walton 
Greene, Charles F. 



Greene, Gilbert 
Greene, Levi 
Greene, Mrs. Levi 
Hamilton, William 
Harris, Asahel 
Harris, Christopher 
Harris, Daniel 
Harris, Edmund 
Harris, Mrs. Edmund 
Harris, Edwin A. 
Harris, Emory, Sen. 
Harris, Mrs. Emory, Sen. 
Harris, Emory, Jr. 
Harris, Mrs. Emory, Jr. 
Harris, Frederick 
Harris, George H. 
Harris, George S. 
Harris, Levi 
Harris, Mrs. Levi 
Harris, Sidney 
Harris, Mrs. Sidney 
Haskell, William H. 
Heard, Rev. Jared M. 
Heard, Mrs. Jared M. 
Hemenway, Henry 
Holder, William P. 
Holder, Mrs. William P. 
Howard, George F. 
Howard, Mrs. George F. 



95 



Historic Loan Exhibition, 



Howe, Ebenezer 
Howe, Horatio B. 
Howe, Jonas 
Hunt, Jonas 
Hunt, Mrs. Jonas 
Ingalls, James 
Ingalls, Mrs. James 
Jackson, Mrs. Abby Morgan 
Jenkins, Sampson 
Jenkins, Mrs. Sampson 
Jerauld, Albert A. 
Jevvett, Milton 
Jewett, Mrs. Milton 
Jewett, Theodore 
Jewett, Mrs. Theodore 
Johnson, James N. 
Johnson, Mrs. James N. 
Kendall, Ezra 
Keyes, Henry F. 
Kilburn, Daniel W. 
Knight, Alfred 
Knight, Mrs. Alfred 
Low, Mrs. Mary Burdett 
Maynard, Camden 
McQuaid, Thomas A. 
Miller, Charles 



Miller, Mrs. Charles 

Miller, Oscar 

Miner, Mrs. Eliza B. 

Morgan, Philip L. 

Morse, Philander 

O'Connor, Dr. Thomas H. 

Otterson, John A. 

Palmer, Col. Oilman M. 

Palmer, John 

Parker, Deacon Joseph B. 

Parker, Mrs. Joseph B. 

Parkhurst, Charles F. W. 

Parkhurst, Mrs. Charles F. VV. 

Patterson, Father Richard J. 

Pevey, Amos A. 

Peirce, William N. 

Pitts, James 

Pitts, Hiram W. 

Pollard, Gardner 

Pollard, Mrs. Gardner 

Pratt, Capt. C. Alden 

Pratt, Mrs. C. Alden 

Rice, Abel 

Rice, B. Franklin 

Rice, Edwin A. 

Rice, George F. H. 



Rice, Joseph 
Sargent, Stephen 
Sargent, Mrs. Stephen 
Sawyer, Mrs. Eli 
Sawyei', Ezra 
Sawyer, Mrs. Ezra 
Sawyer, Oscar 
Sawyer, Thomas 
Smith, Albert H. 
Stearns, Deacon William 
Stevens, Charles G. 
Stone, Mrs. Eliza 
Stone, Capt. Oliver 
Swan, Charles L. 
Tyler, Samuel W. 
Waters, Charles H. 
Weeks, James A. 
White, Oren 
Wilder, Franklin 
Wilder, John 
Wilder, William G. 
Winter, Deacon Waldo 
Wishart, William 
Worcester, Charles W. 
Vose, Lieut. Josiah H. 



The exhibit of the Bigelow Carpet Company was peculiarly interesting to the student 
of Clinton history. The books of the Clinton Company and the early books of the Car- 
pet Company are a perfect mine of information. 

Bigelow Carpet Company. — Picture, H. N. Bigelow; picture, E. B. Bigelow; carpet 
picture, George Washington; picture, "Carpet Weaving, 1776:" picture, Jacquard; pic- 
ture. Monument to Jacquard; Roll of coach-lace; Brussels picture, "Japanese Picnic;" 
Record Book, Clinton Company; Pay-roll, 1845-1848; Pay-roll, machine shop, 1845-1849; 
Pay-roll, Brussels Carpet Mill, 1849-1855; Pay-roll, Bigelow Carpet Company, 1855 to 
i860; Case gold and silver medals won by carpets from these mills; First and last pieces 
carpet made in mill. 

The Lancaster Mills and the Clinton Wire Cloth Company also made valuable 
exhibitions. 

The War Relics attracted much attention. The books of Company C, Fifteenth 
Regiment, and the pictures of our Clinton soldiers in the two wars were of greatest value, 
but there were canteens and knapsacks, bayonets and bullets, housewives and cartridge- 
boxes, hard-tack and other things innumerable, many of which were connected with the 
story of Clinton men in the Civil War, while a Krag-Jorgensen rifle and a Phillipine flag, 
with other relics of our last war, reminded us that this too is an age of heroes. 

Not all the exhibition dealt with local history. Whatever would serve to illustrate 
the life of former generations was sought. The lovers of old books dwelt with delight on 
the many ancient volumes displayed. The oldest was the "Works of Calvin," 1536. 
There were six of the following century; "Bible," 1626; "Exposition of the Command- 
ments," 1632; "Directory for the Public Worship of God," 1644; "Book of Common 
Prayer," 1660; "German Bible," 1670; Surgical Work, 1693. Those of the eighteenth 
century and the early part of the nineteenth were very numerous. There were one hun- 

96 



Historic Loan Exhibition. 

dred and ninety-five bound volumes, besides many pamphlets, almanacs, newspapers, 
scrap-books, manuscripts and deeds. 

Many of the visitors were most attracted by the furniture, the dress, the needlework, 
the china, the silver of olden times. A great abundance and variety of these articles 
were on exhibition in the cases of the main room, with the exhibits previously mentioned. 
Here too, on the platform, sat a woman, working at a spinning-wheel. 

Two rooms, a kitchen and a parlor, were arranged to represent old methods of fur- 
nishing. In the kitchen was a fire-place with its andirons, crane, kettle, bellows, tin 
kitchen, warming pans, and a shelf above bearing candlesticks, snuffers and lantern. 
Over all hung an old musket. The sink had a pail and gourd, and on the shelf above, a 
mortar and pestle. The dresser was loaded with an especially fine collection of pewter, 
teapots, platters and plates, and porringers such as our grandfathers ate their hasty pud- 
ding and milk from. Above was a sword. In " grandmother's corner," the window was 
filled with old-fashioned plants, and on a nail near by hung a bonnet of drawn silk. By 
a rocking-chair there was a stand with knitting work and spectacles; a table against the 
wall was set for a meal. There was a cradle for a child and another for a doll; a huge 
braided rug was spread on the floor. Each article in the room had a history of its own, 
which the attendant was ready to give. 

In the parlor, the most noticeable article was a beautiful desk, which was brought to 
this country in 1630, and had been in one family five generations. There was the com- 
munion table of the old Hillside Church; a work-table of Mrs. Horatio N. Bigelow; a 
rare table with inlaid work, bearing an astral lamp and an urn; Mrs. Poignand's table; a 
chair with a seat worked by Mrs. Polly Bigelow, and other ancient chairs; a tapestry 
screen, upon which a man worked for ten years; a flax-wheel; a dulcimer, made in Clinton; 
samplers; a mourning piece; a picture, embroidered in silk; a high-boy and a cabinet, each 
filled with china, which delighted the soul of the antiquarian; Clinton-made quilts, coun- 
terpanes and blankets of various patterns were gathered here. 

In all there were about fourteen hundred articles, loaned by some two hundred peo- 
ple. The thought was often expressed that so valuable a collection should be made per- 
manent in as far as possible, as many who loaned articles offered to donate them, if pro- 
vision could be made for exhibition and safe keeping. 

The Worcester Telegram speaks thus of this exhibition : "At no place in Clinton 
today was there more genuine enjoyment than at the historic loan exhibition. From the 
time, it was opened at nine o'clock this morning till it was closed at six o'clock to-night, 
there was a crowd looking at the articles of olden times, which were loaned the committee 
by their owners in Clinton and elsewhere. Everything conceivable was in the cases, which 
were placed in the vestry for the exhibition. * * * There was a story to go with 
every bit of these relics, and somebody present to tell it. * * * This was the place 
where the true spirit of the Semi-Centennial was, and it will be strange if the recollections 
of the pleasant reunions today and tomorrow in the basement of the Unitarian Church are 
not carried through life by many of the visitors to the Clinton celebration." 



SOME WORTHIES OF FACTORY VILLAGE. 
Lines Suggested by Loan Collection. 

Just as the present century began, 
There came a change in labor. Man with man. 
All through our land by bonds of trade was knit. 
As work was specialized and made to fit 

97 



Historic Loan Exhibition. 

More widely part to part. No more a ball, 
Complete in self, was man, but each for all, 
And all for each, they worked. The final goal 
To which they tended, was the perfect whole. 



Our farmers for a while still raised their crops 

For their own needs, but worked in little shops 

For other men. Our work was making combs. 

From Maine to Georgia, in a thousand homes, 

Our village product smoothed the rumpled hair; 

It gave to comeliness a look more fair; 

It cleared the snarls while little urchins whined. 

And did detective work, — the fine-toothed kind. 

'Tis said the trade was started by John Lowe. 

To him, his sons, and sons-in-law, we owe 

The shops in "Scrabble Hollow." Uncle Nat, 

As he was called, John's brother, owned the flat, 

Since dubbed "The Plain." Two brothers of John's wife, 

Found homes on Burdett Hill. Each spent his life 

Upon the hill to which the)' gave their name. 

Men of the Burdett blood have helped to frame 

Through generations three, our growing town, 

And raise to higher levels its renown. 

How potent is that blood we surely own, 

Since it has made our chairman of a Stone. 

The great comb-makers were the Harris clan, 




The farmer, Daniel Harris, led the van 

Of settlers of that name. He had three sons 

Who learned the comb trade, as the story runs, 

From Nathan Burdett. Step by step, they grew 

In skill and wealth, till rivals none, they knew. 

Of them, t'was said exalted was their horn 

Above the head of all of women born. 

Why speak of Pollards, Howard or Sawtell, 

Comb-makers all? Their names you know full well. 

You know the sturdy mill-wright, Joseph Rice, 

And Jacob Stone, the builder, whose advice 

Was sought for far and wide. The first Charles Chace, 

The tanner, and his sons. If we retrace 

98 





PORTRAIT SIDNHY HARRIS. 



PORTRAIT EDWIN A. HARRIS. 




'"' ^ -Ail/' I if »V .^g 



'-1»*^ 



THE HARRIS HOMESTEAD. 



Historic Loan Exhibition. 

The record bright of all who sowed the seed 

Whence Clinton sprung, whole volumes we should need. 

A narrow life they led, these men of yore, 

They had embarked, but still they hugged the shore; 

They worked for others, sent their goods abroad. 

But still they trod the waj's their fathers' trod; 

Knew little of the world and cared still less; 

To live content, by them was thought success. 

They had no daily papers; all their news 

Was passed by word of mouth; the current views 

Of men and things were rooted in the past. 

With here and there some rude iconoclast. 

They had great families. They raised the birch. 

What the connection? We leave you to search. 




OfMt yf Trie At 1" 
POIGNAND HOUSE. (Drawn by Charles .-V. Lawrence for Semi-Cerrtennial.) 

99 



L.ofC. 



Historic Loan Exhibition. 

The fathers of that day thought it their part 

To do their best to make their children smart. 

They drank hard cider, loved a wrestling bout, 

They went to meeting, some were quite devout. 

Their blessings with their neighbors they would share. 

But all-absorbing piety was rare. 

They were coarse-grained and rough in jolly jokes, 

As tough in fiber as the knotty oaks. 

From vigor such as theirs our virtues spring. 

Do we such vigor to our children bring? 

What antique form in this, so quaint and rare. 

Which comes upon the scene, most debonair. 

With queue, knee breeches, buckles, ruffles, cane, 

A gentleman, both dapper and urbane? 

'Tis David Poignand, born on Jersey Isle, 

French Huguenot, a tradesman, yet his smile, 

His jaunty grace, his courtly compliment. 

His love of honor, show his high descent. 

With him, there comes his partner. Mister Plant, 

The title Mister, none ere failed to grant. 

Each word was uttered with such accent nice, 

He was so dignified, so straight, precise; 

He never stumbled, never made mistakes; 

He never hurried, never put on brakes; 

An Englishman by birth and strong of will, 

In business keen, of great mechanic skill. 

They built a cotton mill and spun and wove. 

They centralized the work and so they throve. 

The Frenchman furnished means, his partner, wit; 

The Frenchman, prudence, and his partner, grit. 

'Tis said no private house in all the state, 

Contained so many books. At any rate, 

Both men were eager students, loved to read; 

They loaned their books and scattered learning's seed. 

Their wives excelled in every social grace, 

Were "to the manor born," like all their race. 

Their gracious deeds arose from purest love. 

Which made their homes a type of that above. 

So while their husbands taught the textile art, 

They taught refinement, born of loving heart. 



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THE BANQUET. 

No feature of the Semi-Centennial gave rise to more discussion than the banquet. To 
what degree should it be self-supporting? Where and when should it be held? What 
should be the price of tickets? How many should be invited as guests? Who should be 
the caterers? Should the speakers be distinguished men from abroad, or would it be bet- 
ter to rely on home talent? The sub-committee originally appointed grappled with these 
questions, and after they had settled them in accordance with their own judgment, and 
obtained the sanction of the general committee, tickets were offered for sale. One hun- 
dred and seventj'-five seats were engaged at two dollars per plate, but as a guarantee of 
three hundred was required by the caterer, the committee did not feel justified in going 
further, and reported that it seemed inexpedient to hold a banquet on the lines proposed. 
In accordance with the desire of the chairman of the committee, this report was accepted. 
It seemed best, however, to the general committee that another attempt should be made, 
so a new committee was appointed to lead the forlorn hope. This committee, after a 
careful investigation, decided to follow out the plans proposed by the original committee. 
The sense of responsibility for the banquet was so awakened among the members of the 
general committee, and the Semi-Centennial in all its phases was finding such growing 
favor among the citizens, that this part of the celebration was carried to a successful issue 
by the new committee. Considerably more than the three hundred tickets required for a 
guarantee were sold, and the Town Hall was none too large to accommodate those who 
were anxious to attend. 

It was decided that it would be wise to set the banquet at an early hour, so that 
people might come with fresh appetites. By six-thirty, Bigelow Hall, which had been 
tastefully decorated for the occasion, began to be filled by the arriving guests. There 
was a half hour of merry greetings and of conversation, with pleasing reminiscence as its 
central theme. Meanwhile, the Salem Cadet Band added to the cheer by its excellent 
music. Shortly after seven, those assembled marched to the hall above. The scene was 
one of enchantment. Through the art of the decorators the ceiling and walls, with their 
flowing streamers and graceful folds were one mass of glowing color, in which red, white 
and blue, with their emblematic significance, predominated, while touches of yellow and 
green were tastefully intermingled. From the center hung a great bell. To the illumi- 
nation of the incandescent lights above was added that of the candelabra, with fairy 
lights on the tables below. 

One table, for the speakers and their friends, was placed parallel to the stage where 
the band was stationed. Seven others were arranged at right angles to this. These tables 
were lettered C-L-I-N-T-O-N, and each seat was numbered. The tables were tastefully 
set and decorated with flowers. The variegated colors of the menu made them still more 
bright. These, bound as they were in varied patterns of Lancaster ginghams, were not 
only pleasing to the eye, but also suggestive of our greatest industry. 

Prayer was offered by Rev. A. Morrill Osgood. According to the record books, three 
hundred and twenty-six were seated at the tables. The menu was as follows : 

lOl 



The Banquet. 

MENU. 

Clear Consomme. Breadsticks. 

Boiled Fresh Salmon, Hollandaise. 

Cucumbers, French Dressing. Green Peas. 

Olives. 

Chicken Croquettes, Green Peas. 

Apricot Fritters, Glace. 

Frozen Tom and Jerry, in Cases. 

Roast Filet Beef, Mushroom Sauce. 

Delmonico Potatoes. Fresh String Beans. 

Salted Almonds and Pecans. 

Tomato and Lettuce Salad. 

Assorted Fancy Cake. Frozen Pudding. 

Neapolitan Ice Cream. Fancy Ices. 

Strawberries. 

Thin Crackers. Young America Cheese. 

ApoUinaris. Coffee. 

T. D. Cook & Co. were the caterers, and gave universal satisfaction as regards the 
individual courses, their relation to each other, and the manner in which they were served. 
The beauty of the hall, the excellence of the music, the appetite of the guests, the per- 
fection of the feast, the spirit of good-fellowship which prevailed, the inspiring idea of 
local patriotism, which lay at the basis of the celebration, and found here its fullest 
expression, all contributed to make this the most notable social gathering in the history 
of our town. 



Judge Christopher C. Stone, the president of the evening, briefly introduced in a most 
happy manner as the toastaiaster, Rev. James C. Duncan, who conducted the remaining 
exercises. 

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 

Neither length of years nor place of birth entitles me to the honor which you 
h;ive conferred upon me tonight. If nature made any mistake in making me a Scotch- 
man instead of a Yankee, I have done my level best to rectify that error, for not only 
have I become American by adoption, but you know as well as I do that much the bet- 
ter half of me was born and bred in your midst. How much I owe to the town of Clin- 
ton for furnishing me with my other and better self, no words can tell. Suffice it to say 
that in the fourteen years, yesterday, while I have been going in and out among you, 
Clinton has come to mean to me all that is implied in the word home. 

This is a family gathering. Here we are all brothers and sisters. Some have been 
away from home for a longer or a shorter time, and tonight you have come from far and 
near, as on Thanksgiving Day, to sit around the family table and listen to the old familiar 
voices and to some that are neither so old nor so familiar as they will be when our cen- 
tennial celebration comes round. We are a young town and have all the assurance of 
youth, for our banquet committee deemed it unnecessary to go out of town for a supply 
of eloquence. Why should they? Look at the names on the program and you will see 
that there was no need of importing foreign goods. However it may be with the viands 
for the table, or orchestra music, when it comes to wit and wisdom, we know nothing 
better than the home-made article. I can say this without laying myself open to the 
charge of conceit, for however much I may itch to speak tonight, for it is seldom that a 

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minister has such an opportunity, I am here not to make a speech but merelj- to call upon 
others to respond to the sentiments suggested by your committee. 

We have a long program and it behooves every speaker to keep within the limits of 
his time. Your toast-master, with the advice and consent of the committee, reserved the 
right to call down the transgressor, and lest I should myself be the first offender, allow 
me the privilege of denying myself the pleasure of saying more than that I am glad to be 
a citizen of Clinton, glad to be here tonight and glad to be of the slightest service on this 
occasion; and now, sir, since )'ou were so kind as to do me the honor of calling me to this 
place, allow me to return the compliment by inviting you to reply to the toast, " Clinton's 
Past," for 

" No past is dead for us, but only sleeping." 

To you, Mr. President, we look to wake the past from its slumbers. 

" Backward, turn backward, O Time, in your flight, 
Make us young again, just for tonight." 

Clinton's Past — Judge Christopher C. Stone. 
Mr. Toastntaster, Ladies atid Gcndcntcn: 

I presume I am honored with the invitation to respond to this toast because I was 
born, and have always lived, within the limits of this good old town whose fiftieth birth- 
day we are celebrating tonight. Clinton, though young as a corporate body, has a his- 
tory running back nearly two hundred and fifty years. In 1654, John Prescott, a man 
about fifty years of age, and said to have been a soldier in the army of Cromwell, came 
here and built a house, and a mill for grinding corn on the beautiful stream of water run- 
ning through the valley below us, afterwards known as South Meadow Brook. Four 
years later, he built a saw-mill near by. 

For twenty-two years, so far as we know, the Prescott famil}' was the only one living 
in this vicinity, and they gained their subsistence by grinding corn and sawing logs for- 
the people for many miles around. On account of the impending troubles with the 
Indians, the Prescott house was made one of Lancaster's garrisons and, perhaps, some 
soldiers were stationed here. In February, 1676, this house, with several others in Lan- 
caster, was attacked by the Indians, and so many of the homes were destroyed that the 
settlement was abandoned and the Indians completed the work of destruction. This 
closed the first chapter in our history. 

For three years, all was desolation; then Prescott, with some of his sons, returned 
and rebuilt house and mills. Five generations of the Prescott family successively owned 
and managed these mills before they passed into other hands. 

Meanwhile, other mills had been built in this section — one on Mine Swamp Brook, 
one at Fullerville and one on the Nashua River. In 1809, Poignand & Plant purchased 
the Prescott property and erected a mill for the manufacture of cotton cloth. Later on, 
James Pitts built a cotton mill on the Nashua River where the Lancaster Mills now stand. 
The Messrs. Harris and others engaged in the manufacture of combs. These bare facts 
simply show that from its earliest origin Clinton's life has been nourished by its manu- 
facturing industries. Time will not allow me to trace the development of the business 
life in Factory Village, as it was then called, before the coming of the Bigelows in 1838. 
They initiated new life and energy into the industries of the place, and it was soon evident 
that master niinds were controlling the business of our little village, and from that time 

10^ (S) 



The Banquet. 

on, its growth was phenomenal. We were soon known by the more pretentious name of 
Ch'ntonville. 

In 1848-49, the question of a division of the town of Lancaster was agitated, and on 
March 14, 1850, we became the town of Clinton with a population of twenty-seven hun- 
dred and fifty-six. It was the smallest town in the state in area, but large in its number 
of men and women of enterprise and ability. Its wonderful growth attests the truth of 
this statement. 

An occasion like this brings mingled feelings of sadness and pleasure. My memory 
naturally reverts to the many who have taken an active and an honorable part in the life 
and growth of our town, who have passed on to a higher life. The roll is a long one and 
I will not lend sadness to this occasion by attempting to enumerate them. The)' will find 
recognition at other and abler hands during our anniversary exercises. Not a member of 
the first board of town officers is now living, but the by-laws and the regulations for the 
conduct of our public schools bear witness to the ability and efficiency of these first offi- 
cials, and our churches, our schools, our roads, and the man\' pleasant homes are monu- 
ments to the public spirit, the integrit)' and the thrift which characterized so many of our 
early citizens. 

The first ten years in our history as a town were uneventful; then came the Civil War 
and many of our bravest and best young men responded to their country's call. Some 
died on the battlefield, some of disease, some in the prison pens at Andersonville; others 
came back to their homes, but many of them have since passed on to the silent majority, 
but whether living or dead, they should all be held in grateful memory. From the close 
of the Civil War to the present time, the growth of Clinton has been uniform and steady, 
until today, it is one of the most flourishing manufacturing towns in our good old Com- 
monwealth. 

The memories of the last fifty years crowd thick upon me, many pleasant and affec- 
tionate ones of the men with whom I have been intimately associated during a long life- 
time. The few hard and bitter memories are fast fading out. While differing widely at 
times in our views as to the management of town affairs, we have all been honestly work- 
ing, I trust, for the best interests of our town. The past with its successes and failures is 
behind us. We older men are fast laying aside the burdens and responsibilities. With 
you younger men and your successors rest the future welfare and honor of our beloved 
town. May they be guarded so zealously that when the citj- of Clinton shall celebrate 
its one hundreth anniversary, she shall be renowned not only for her material prosperity, 
but for her honest government and the morality of her citizens. 



When a man has lived almost three-quarters of a century in a town only half a cen- 
tury old, he is supposed to know something of its early settlers. 

"Peace to the reverend dead; 
The light that on their head 
The passing years have shed 
Shall ne'er grow dim." 

It gives me pleasure to present to you an honored member of one of our typical fam- 
ilies—Mr. A. A. Burditt. 

104 




KbSlUHNCtf OF HORATIO NtLSON BlGhl.OW. 




THE PARKHR HOUSE. 



The Banquet. 

The Early Settlers — Alfred A. Burditt. 
Mr. Toastmaster, Ladies and Gentlemen: 

To reply to the sentiment assigned me takes me back more than sixty years 
to mj- childhood. At that time there were only four public streets in what is now Clin- 
ton — Main, Water, Rigby and Chace Streets. To commence at the south end of Main 
Street, on the estate, now called Leadbetter's Farm, stood a house owned and occupied 
by Jacob Stone, who had a large family of children. Proceeding north, we come to the 
house of Widow Moses Sawyer, occupied by herself and Samuel Dorrison. The residents 
upon this street in successive order were James Stone, the father of our Judge Stone; 
Nathan Burditt, my father; Nathaniel Rice, Joseph Rice, John Burditt, John Burditt Jr.; 
David Holder, a Quaker, occupying the boarding-house of the Lancaster Manufacturing 
Company; Roswell Bliss, who was also a Quaker; Samuel Plant, Mrs. David Poignand; 
William Toombs, at the "Farm House;" Robert Phelps, Anson Lowe, John Lowe, opposite 
whom stood the first store in Clinton, kept by Frank Lowe; Henry Lewis, Henry 
Lowe, Franklin Brigham, and last on Main Street, George Howard, whose house stood 
on the site where E. A. Currier now lives. Mr. Howard owned a comb-shop on what is 
now Stone Street, near which was a house occupied by Joel Sawtell. 

The only house on Rigby Street was one occupied by Eben Pratt. 

Commencing at the west end on Water Street, near the present intersection of Water 
and High Streets, was the house of Amory Pollard; following this were those of Emory 
Harris, where Charles M. Dinemore's house now stands; the brick house of Asahel Harris; 
the "old red house," in which lived Daniel Harris. We then cross the river to Chace 
Street; we reach the house of John Goss, where Frank G. Sawyer now lives; near by 
there was an old house occupied by a Mrs. Larkin; next came that of Sidney Harris; then 
in order those of Gardner Pollard, Mr. Wilder, Alanson Chace, Myrick Sargent. South 
of what is now the Berlin road lived three families by the name of Wilder. South of 
Clamshell Pond lived Baxter Wood and William Larkin. 

Several dwellings were located near "Pitts' Mill," where the Lancaster Mills now 
stand, which were reached by private ways from Main and Water Streets. Here lived 
James Pitts, Hiram White, Stephen Sargent, Joseph and Amos Butler. South of Sandy 
Pond lived Levi Howe and Artemas Harrington; on the brook east lived Peter Sawyer, in 
what is now called the Kiesling Place, which was also reached bj- a private way. 

All these were dwelling-places in what is now Clinton. There are many experiences 
of these early settlers of which I would like to speak if time would permit. 



Among the early citizens of this town none are more worthy of remembrance than 
her traders. We are honored tonight with the presence of the man whom our historian 
describes as "the recognized leader among the merchants of Clinton." I have the pleas- 
ure to call upon the Hon. H. C. Greeley to tell us something of the early merchants of 
the town. 

The Early Merchant — Hon. Henry C. Greeley. 

Mr. Toastmaster, Ladies and Gentlemen : 

It is a pleasing privilege given me to speak for the traders, and especially for the 
early traders, of Clinton. It was with them and from them, I received my business edu- 
cation. 

Merchants are a necessary part of every civilized community. They are the agents 

105 



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of advancement from savage squalor to a home life of comfort, education and refinement. 
They bring to our doors the products of every clime. No sea is so wide or land so dis- 
tant as to restrain them in their search for what may add to the comfort and pleasure of 
living. A land without traders is a moral desert of want and ignorance. In order that a 
people may be elevated, they must first of all be inspired to desire something better than 
their present condition. When wants begin to multiply, then there is a casting off of the 
old. The trader comes in with his helpfulness, life broadens, ambitions and aspirations 
are engendered and foundations laid for the advancement of education and religion. 

A merchant to be successful requires intelligence, enterprise and honesty. He must 
wisely comprehend the needs of the community he desires to serve. He must be active 
in obtaining what his good judgment tells him will be appreciated, and he must be honest, 
that he may obtain and hold the confidence of his patrons. Lacking in either of these, 
failure is quite sure to close his career as a merchant. It has been sneeringly said that 
traders are sordid, often sacrificing integrity and principle to pelf. There may be such, 
but as a class their goods are for sale, but not their principles. As a part of the community 
they are most liberal in the support of municipal improvements, in contributing to the 
calls of charity, education and religion, and in the support of business enterprises which 
promise prosperit}' to the town. 

Clinton's first merchants will not suffer when tested by this high standard. They 
gave thirty-six inches to the yard and sixteen ounces to the pound. My allotted time is 
too limited to dwell at any length upon their characteristics. Those who desire can find 
more extended particulars in Ford's "History of Clinton," a work which will be increas- 
ingly valuable as years roll by. Of the old merchants, we have two remaining with us. 
One is the genial A. A. Burditt, who has so interestingly told us the story of the early 
dwellers in the south village of Lancaster, now Clinton. He was the village druggist, 
and his pills and powders have assuaged untold suffering. The other is Charles Bowman, 
the dealer in tin and hardware, whom Father Time seems to have overlooked. If we may 
judge from appearances, he will be found at the old stand with the emblem, "Established 
1850," displayed at Clinton's Centennial. Of the others who were in business here in 
1850 or soon thereafter, most have passed beyond the bounds of earthly activities. Many 
of them left enduring impressions on the young town. All were worthy citizens. 

The trading business was early located at the south end of High Street. At the cor- 
ner on the east side, in the old Bancroft Building, where Greeley's Block now stands, 
William A. Harlow sold groceries, and after him, Josiah Alexander, Jr., followed in the 
same line. Next north was the tailor-shop of Charles W. Field, who later added the 
ready-made clothing business, which is still in the family name. Next northward was 
Kendall Block, which was removed to Church Street to make room for the Bank Build- 
ing. Here the restless George H. Kendall and the polite James W. Caldwell, as "Kendall 
& Caldwell," did a dry goods business. Albert A. Jerauld had a tailor-shop in the same 
building. At the corner on the west side, next Union Street, was the new block built for 
A. P. Burdett's dry goods business. He continued here but a short time, seeking a larger 
sphere. He is still living in Boston. Horatio S. Burdett was his most popular clerk, 
who, later, was a leading member of a large Boston clothing house. He resides in Brook- 
line. Next was the small building now occupied by Richard Bourne as a shoe store. A 
boot and shoe business has always been done here, by Benjamin Tj'ler, Waldo Winter, 
and others. Then came the original Greene's Block, built of wood, and occupied by Gil- 
bert Greene for the sale of jewelry and watches. The fine brick block lately completed 
will perpetuate his jtianie. His tact in telling a story, together with the correctness of his 

106 



The Banquet. 

time, made his store a popular resort. Next was the new wooden block built for George 
P. Smith, for the sale of dry goods and groceries. He was an upright man and very par- 
ticular to give good value to his customers. Orlando A. Smith, his brother, was his clerk, 
but early in the fifties he left him and went into the drj' goods and music business, first 
in the Clinton Hall extension, and later succeeding A. P. Burdett, where William L. Hub- 
bard is now located. David Holder, the spectacled Quaker shoemaker, had a small shop 
on Church Street, and L. D. Lyon had a shoe store, first in the house of Dea. John Bur- 
dett, and then in Clinton House Block. 

I must not close this very brief and incomplete reference to Clinton's early business 
houses without making mention of the millinery establishment of Mrs. C. D. Davis, which 
was located in Kendall's Building, and later moved across the street to Smith's Block. 
Mrs. Davis was a large, dignified lady of pleasing manners, who employed many assistants 
and was the accepted authority as to what was the proper stjde for ladies' head-wear. 
She soon had a competitor in Miss Ellen S. Killenger, who took rooms in Burdett's Block. 
She married Charles W. Worcester, a prominent Clinton mill agent, and is now living in 
Clinton, I might justly extend this enumeration and include the names of others who 
were here in business for longer or shorter periods, but my time has passed. 

I will conclude with this sentiment: May enterprising American traders carry the 
products of American skill and labor in our own ships over all seas, and may the leaven 
of our free institutions work among the inhabitants of the islands of the south, the east 
and the west, and add to the sum of human happiness by the advancement of freedom, 
education and religion. 



We have with us tonight one who remembered that he was a boy with the boys. He 
has the faculty of making the aged forget their years and laugh as if they were boys 

again. 

"Has there any old fellow got mi.xed with the boys? 
If there has, take him out, without making a noise. 
Hang the almanac's clack and the catalogue's spite! 
Old Time is a liar! We're twenty tonight." 
Then here's to our boyhood, its gold and its gray! 
The stars of its winter, and the dews of its May! 
And when we have done with our life-lasting toys, 
Dear Father, take care of thy children, The Boys." 

I take pleasure, sir, in presenting a former Clinton boy, Mr. A. F. Howell. 

Reminiscences of Former Clinton Boys — Augustus F. Howell. 

Mr. Toastmastcr and Fclloiv-citizcns: 

After hearing the able and eloquent speakers who precede me, I fear that you will 
be somewhat disappointed in my ability to meet the demand and cope with the sentiment 
allotted to me. I feel somewhat like the man who was introduced at a colored conven- 
tion, by the chairman, after the more important speakers had concluded, "If dere is any 
uder gem'man as wants to expose hisself, now is de chance." This is, in part, owing to the 
fact that I was not apprised of my subject until about an hour previous to this feast of 
reason and flow of wit. 

The impromptu speech which I have labored assiduously over for this occasion, airily 
conceived and so delicately expressed that in an unguarded moment the respirations of 
frolicsome evening zephyrs, might readily have born it away to ecstatic realms, is now null 
and void. When I look around me and see the radiant smiles of lovely woman, I con- 

107 



The Banquet. 

gratulate myself that I was not borne away likewise. Unlike the speaker who preceded 
me, and who claims to have come here in 1S47, but not to stay, finally settling here in 
1849, I vvaited until 1852 and then, owing to my tender age, came to stay until my parents 
moved to Worcester in 1865. 

It is useless at this time for us visitors to the old home of our boyhood days to 
indulge in platitudes about the subtle art of hospitality of our townsmen of today, for it 
would surely seem like gilding refined gold, or adding perfume to the rose, and might be 
construed into a bid for local adulation, professionally. There was something seductive 
in the invitation and we came to claim a share of the genuine hospitality. 

The task imposed on me is a light one, as I have been given to understand that no 
extended remarks were expected, or necessary, with the numerous bright, local lights 
who were prepared, around me. I regard this day as one of the most auspicious in the 
history, not alone of Clinton, but of our beloved old Commonwealth, and of the best 
country on earth, now recognized by the world in all questions- of national import, even 
by the far distant Orient. This morning before leaving Boston, the boom of guns from 
the war-ships of the North Atlantic squadron, peacefully anchored in our harbor, and 
from the guns of the Navy Yard battery; the countless salutes of small arms, firecrackers, 
etc., in the hands of the patriotic boys; the parade of numerous state militia and naval 
troops, with civic societies, trades and artistic floats, told to the hundreds of thousands 
of Boston and suburban citizens that the valiant deeds of America's embattled farmers of 
1775, were being celebrated on this the one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of the 
battle of Bunker Hill, by representatives of state and nation. We can therefore, tonight, 
glory in the wonderful advance of town, state and nation, which even in the past fifty 
years is so full of interesting history to future generations. We cannot help being proud 
of the growth that has marked our town in the past five decades, and which makes it 
practically the largest township in the state today. 

Not alone are the present younger citizens to be congratulated on its prosperity, so 
marked on every side, but also the older ones, whose honest business methods, rugged 
soul and persevering struggles in the many years of glorious work and achievements, 
made it possible. Congratulation is due, also, to the mothers, whose earnest Christian char- 
acter, forbearance and loving interest in home instruction to the boy and headstrong youth, 
made able thinking men, moulding their minds and so their habits, on a higher plane of 
thought and action. What greater immortality can a faithful mother desire than to have 
so imprinted pure motives and principles upon the character of her boy, that he may say 
in the filial spirit of Abraham Lincoln, "All that I am and all that I hope to be, I owe to 
my angel mother." 

How then can I speak of the "Reminiscences of the former Clinton boys" without 
referring to the girls of that decade, the mothers of today? They were our well-spring of 
delight and without them no excursion was complete. They were with us in the senti- 
mental spring search for Maj'-flowers over on the hills beyond "Scrabble Hollow;" our 
modest companions in the more prosaic summer berrying parties to Berlin or the old 
church in Bolton, or to other suburban pastures with their blue and black fruit; in the 
rollicking autumn nutting rambles beyond Burdett Hill, or Harris Hill, and later, at the 
noisj' "huskin' bees," dodging the "red ears;" in the healthy winter skating parties on 
old Counterpane, Coachlace and Mossy Ponds, and the Nashua River, where now the new 
dam damns that section, as well as on those much anticipated sleigh-rides, all bundled up 
in robes, when a turkey supper awaited us at either Fitchbarg, Leominster, or Sterling. 
They were only debarred from our vacation, Indian trail parties, over the Maynard farm, 



The Banquet. 

where High Street now extends, through the woods bejond, across Stony Beach or Steep 
Banks (cow trails), where the only daily ablutions of many an early Clinton boy were 
often taken, to the worrinient of anxious mothers — as also to the boy at times, when dis- 
obedience of parental instructions in this regard resulted in condign punishment. 

How well I remember the first party of any account, of my boyhood, in one of the 
scattered homes near the site of this very hall. How I looked forward to the event and 
how, on that evening when I was waiting my turn to be "shown up," I wondered if the 
charmer of my younger years would notice that my trowsers lacked some two inches of 
connecting with my red front boot-tops. It was not long, however, before all this was 
forgotten, as she and I measured off three yards of tape and cut it, as was the custom 
then, with a kiss squarely swopped. This in the nature of a forfeit game. My jealousy 
was soon aroused, however, by a rival, who raised her five times from a well, in order to 
extricate her, he being foxy, each effort being rewarded with a lingering osculation. 
How different, but a seemingly few )^ears later, when in long skirts, she gently, but firmly, 
refused to acknowledge the penalty of a "red ear" in her pile at a "huskin' party," 
explaining that she had, since last we met, taken a different view of the "duty of her sex" 
in promiscuous osculatory exercises. 

No one has yet mentioned the early women of the town, nor among the sentiments 
do I find one in an)' wa)' alluding to man's unselfish, as a rule, helper and S)'mpathizer. 
The banquet without a toast to woman's worth is like a home without children — rather 
selfish. Say what we please, the strongest and most subtle "pull" this world as yet con- 
tains, is the undercurrent of a woman's influence. The Russian in "The Last Word" says 
"A woman can do anything with a man, providing there is no other woman." When a 
woman will, she will; when she wont — well, she will if you tell her not to. Man is con- 
stantly imposing on woman, but she, dear creature, always thinks he doesn't mean it. 
The woman who worries, as a rule has a husband and se\eral daughters who will not worry 
at all. Then we find men who act as if they had done their wives a great favor to marry 
them. There are some women who feel that this earth would surel)' again be an Eden if 
men would only do as women think they ought, forgetting at times that Adam was made 
first and vi'oman after him, and that she has been after him ever since until by good for- 
tune she has "caught him" and the)- are made one, when she is equall)- first with him. 

But to be more serious. How forcibly the recollections crowd upon me, as I today 
look upon the little brick primary school-house, standing as it has for some fifty years — 
Baptist on one side and Orthodo.x on the other — of the true, earnest women who taught 
the young ideas of the fifties and the sixties how to shoot: Lucretia S. Morgan, Lydia J. 
Derby and Susan H. Hartwell. The latter it was who punished the troublesome girls by sit 
ting them beside the worst acting boys, and I don't know which enjoyed it the most. 
Then, when we passed around the Orthodox Church to the grammar grades, we came 
under the able and advanced instruction of Maria F. Hill and that other noble woman, 
whose life has been unselfishly devoted for nearly a half century to the advancement of 
the morale of the youth of this town, to its own advantage and that of every other where 
the}' may have found a home, and to whose worth and fidelity there should be some last- 
ing memorial, either in the form of a bust in enduring stone, placed in a niche in the new 
school-house, or some testimonial from her former students, that she may prize during 
the remainder of her years — Sara C. Cobb. As boys we may have judged harshly and 
with prejudice of the strictness of her discipline, but we all owe her a debt of gratitude 
for her forbearance and indomitable will, for the teaching of ennobling principles, devel- 

109 



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oping the highest traits and qualities of manhood, and so benefitting the community in 
which we live. We can never full)- repay her in this life. 

I might go on and name some of the early boj's of the town, as the previous speakers 
have the early settlers and merchants, but at such short notice I know I cannot do justice 
to my old schoomates, and any distinction given to a few who may come to my mind on 
the spur of the moment, might prove invidious, and so I will only generalize. 

The friendships formed in our school-days are many of them life-long, while many 
others of the boys are lost to our view, both the dead and the living. Some have remained 
in dear old Clinton and helped in its advancement, some are making their mark in the 
great cities of the country. But in my numerous business and professional tours through 
the country in the past twenty years, from Canada to the far South and West, I have 
failed to learn of a Clinton boy that was not a credit to the town, and man}- have risen to 
high positions of trust in business and professional life. As boys we were probably as 
mischievous as any of that da)', but as men we have put away childish things, and now 
look back upon the years that are past without regrets, but still with a yearning for the 
lost opportunities. It is a fact, however, that the man who rises above his circumstances 
is the one who does the best under them. 

To the boys and young men of today, let me say that it will do you no harm to look 
back on the lives and experiences of the former boys of Clinton. Don't hesitate to take 
a little good, practical advice. Napoleon nearly succeeded. He failed because of bad 
advice. The peasant who guided him at Waterloo said that there was no road or ravine 
at a certain point. The charge was ordered and the gully was discovered too late. Horse 
and rider of that vast squadron of the world's finest dragoons were piled in an agonizing, 
struggling, dying mass. St. Helena, a small island, then became historical. That little 
bit of bad advice, or misinformation, changed the history of the world. Likewise a sin- 
gle mistake, if it is large enough, will wreck a business. A little bad advice may bring a 
big misfortune. We should also so direct the footsteps of our fellow men that they will 
thank us for the kindly advice and helping hand, and with their advancement in life, we 
shall reap our reward in the sincerity and value of their friendship. 

It is told of a certain traveller who was much given to mountain climbing, that one 
day in picking his way over the rugged cliffs, he heard a voice calling him from a treach- 
erous crag below: "Lookout, father, that you keep in the right path, for I am following 
you." Those words fell on his ears as a dread admonition, and he paused a moment to 
consider whether he should turn about and seek the valley below, but his better judgment 
said: "No, keep in the right path and his future will be made, for as I lead he will fol- 
low." So in our daily life let us look well to our partner in business, to our neighbor, to 
our own sons, all of whom are watching us as we climb in the years of life, and let them 
see no faltering in the path selected among the pitfalls, straight up to the summit of our 
nobler principles. Urge them to follow, and fail not to place such information in their 
hands as will satisfy them that you are on "the right path," and that they can follow with 
impunity. 

In closing, let me give you this sentiment: "May our one hundreth anniversary prove 
as rich in the fruition of our honest ambitions as has the fiftieth; may the boys of today- 
merit our earnest godspeed in their efforts to perpetuate its business honor and integrity." 



"Oh! the pleasant days of old, which so often people praise! 
True, they wanted all the luxuries that grace our modern days; 
Bare floors were strewed with rushes, the walls let in the cold; 



no 



The Banquet. 

Oh! how they must have shivered in those pleasant days of old! 
Oh! those blessed times of old! with their chivalry and state; 
I love to read their chronicles which such brave deeds relate; 
I love to sing their ancient hj'mns, to hear their legends told — 
But, heaven be thanked, I live not in those blessed times of old." 

As our Quaker poet has so beautifully said: 

"All of good the past hath had 
Remains to make our own time glad. 
God's love and blessing, then and there, 
Are now and here and everywhere." 

It is out of no lack of appreciation of the character and achievements of the men and 
women who settled and organized this town that we turn our attention from the past to 
the present. While we gather inspiration from the memories of the fathers, we would be 
untrue to their spirit did we not give our attention to the dut>' of the present hour. Every 
generation has its own life to live; and that our descendants who shall gather in this hall 
fift)' )'ears hence to celebrate the centennial birthday of the town may find our names not 
unworthy of a place beside those of the Bigelows, the Harrises, Nathan Burdett, Joseph 
B. Parker and Franklin Forbes, let us, since the past is gone, seize today. 

We have with us this evening, to use the words of another, "The one man among our 
Clinton citizens who above all others has represented the progressive character of his 
race." He will tell us not to brood over the past or dream of the future, but to seize the 
instant and get our lesson from the hour. What words can better express the sentiment 
of this toast than those of our Semi-Centennial ode by our estimable citizeness, Miss 
Ellen K. Stevens: 

O, Clinton, noble in the past. 

Be nobler yet today! 
Uphold the right, reilress the wrong, 
March on thy destined way. 

To reply to this sentiment I have the honor, sir, of inviting the Hon. John W. Cor- 
coran. 

Clinton — Its Present — John W. Corcoran. 

Mr. Toastmaster, Ladies and Gentlemen: 

I gratefully appreciate the compliment of being called upon to speak to the senti- 
ment, "Clinton in the Present." This town has been the only home I have ever known. 
In it, I have spent my childhood, boyhood and manhood, and ever enjoyed its ample 
advantages. Out of its opportunities have come whatever of success I may have attained. 
Because of this, I deem the response to this toast a great privilege, but one which, never- 
theless, carries with it some embarrassment. I cannot bring to my task the wisdom of 
seventy-three years, nor the experience of half a century, like the gentlemen on my left, 
responding to their toasts; nor am I able, like my youthful friend on my right, to go back 
in reminiscent mood to the conquests made in the early fifties. Time, however, may 
relieve me of these embarrassments. It would be difficult, indeed, to speak of the Clin- 
ton of the present without adverting to the Clinton of the past, for the one is but the 
complement of the other. Were it not for the wisdom of the founding, we never could 
have enjoyed the benefits of the building. 

Clinton, past and present, was strikingly blessed by Nature. Though small in area, 
it is richly endowed with natural conditions and attractions. It lies at the foot of great 
water-sheds, whose streams and brooks furnish natural attractions to the manufacturer. 



The Banquet. 

Its rivers lend picturesqueness to its scenery, and its hills and slopes provide healthful 
and handsome homes for its people. Situated in one of the greatest counties in the coun- 
try, a model of order and progress, our town is surrounded by neighbors who, in a marked 
degree, illustrate the virtues of thrift, good order anti generous intercourse. Its indus- 
tries are second to none of their kind, its products are found in every mart, and it is 
today, in the best and truest sense of the word, the largest town in the Commonwealth. 
In making this statement, I am not unmindful of the fact that there is one other which 
houses a larger population; but, unlike the population referred to, Clinton's is a real pop- 
ulation, made up of men, women and children who live, toil and have their being upon 
its soil, the greatest tribute that can be paid to the founders and builders of the town. 
They paid the price of its municipal independence. They organized its government, 
made its streets, erected its public buildings, and furnished every equipment necessary 
for local government. From the sweat of their brows came all we possess, including the 
great industries which are the monuments of its growth and progress. Its people are 
orderly and industrious. They have been the architects of their own fortunes, and the 
builders of their own homes. In their social lives, they illustrate, as fully as any other 
population, the virtues of the home and the fireside. Its people are heterogeneous in 
race, and homogeneous in character. Their sentiments are broad, their views liberal, and 
their thought tolerant. 

The growth of the town has been steady and healthy. Beginning with a population 
of approximatel)' three thousand in 1850, it can show to the world in 1900 a population 
of upwards of thirteen thousand busy, thrifty and prosperous people. Its public build- 
ings are unsurpassed by those of any of its sister towns. Its school-houses are ample in 
equipment, generous in accommodations, and stately in appearance. With its trained fire 
department, efficient sewer system and water-works that are its pride and its boast, it 
offers for a home every promise and attraction that modern civilization can suggest. 

Ttake the greatest pride in presenting this picture to you who have enjoyed the priv- 
ileges and the blessings to which I have adverted, and likewise to those former Clintonians 
who have come back to their old home town to join in the celebration of its birth. I 
know it cannot disappoint their expectations, and I feel that they will share with us the 
gratification we feel in its achievements. Its history is a pride to its children, whose love 
will preserve it without stain, and whose loj'alty will protect the integrity of its institu- 
tions. 



When Clinton was still a child of three summers, and not yet entirely free from her 
mother's apron strings, still owing several of the ten thousand dollars she had to pay to 
the town of Lancaster for her freedom, our honored townsman, Horatio N. Bigelow, was 
invited to attend the banquet held in connection with the celebration of the two hun^ 
dredth anniversary of the founding of the town of Lancaster, and reply to the sentiment : 
"Our Youngest Daughter, Clinton ; although she has the pride of youth, she is industrious, 
and, like the mothers of old, is not ashamed to spin and weave." To this toast, Mr. Bige- 
low replied. In the course of his remar'KS, he said that: " Having bought our time, and 
cut loose from the old lady's apron-strings, we have gone on our way rejoicing, increasing 
our manufactures, until we now produce ginghams, quilts, coach-laces, carpets, machinery, 
machine castings, combs, hay-forks, carpet bags, and many other small wares; the aggre- 
gate amount of all our manufactures being annually more than two million dollars, — our 
population, in the mean time, having attained to about thirty-five hundred." Today, sir, 
when the census report reaches us shall we not see that we have quadrupled our popula- 





FRANKLIN FORBES. 



GEO. W. WEEKS. 



■-* 'l.i 




LANCASTER MILLS. 



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tion and more than quadrupled the value of our products? To tell us something of our 
industrial development allow me, sir, to call upon the agent of the Lancaster Mills, Mr. 
Charles H. Richardson, who will take for his text these words : 

"In every rank, or great or small, 
'Tis industry, supports us all." 

Our Manufacturing Industries — Charles H. Richardson. 
Mr. Toastmastcr, Ladies and Gentlemen: 

' I have been asked to say a few words concerning the "Manufacturing Industries of 
Clinton." I approach the subject with a great deal of diffidence, from the fact that there 
are those present, who from their long connection with, and intimate knowledge of these 
industries, would be much more apt to interest you. 

The founders of these industries builded wide and deep, and it speaks volumes for 
their farsightedness that we have today within our borders three corporations which are 
at least among the leaders, if they are not, indeed, the very leaders in their separate lines. 
F"all River, Lowell and other cities may scramble for the honor of being the " Manchester 
of America," but our beautiful little town of Clinton is known around the world for the 
excellence of its manufactures in at least three separate departments. 

To take these concerns in the order of their incorporation : we have first the Lancas- 
ter Mills, incorporated in 1844, ^f^l turning out their first product late in 1846. They at 
once took and have since held a leading position as manufacturers of staple ginghams in 
America. Starting more than fifty years ago, with five hundred and fifty looms, they 
have constantly added all the latest improvements in machinery, in science, and in art, 
until today they have a magnificent plant of more than three thousand five hundred 
looms, driven by what is probably the largest steam generated electric plant used for 
te.xtile manufacturing in the country, if not in the world. They were the first to apply 
steam generated electricity in a large way to the manufacture of cotton cloth ; today 
there are forty mills which are either using or preparing to use electricity generated in 
this way. The number of employees in 1850 was five hundred and fifty-two, and the 
average pay was four dollars and fifty cents per week; the employees today number 
something more than two thousand, and the average pay, exclusive of salaries, is about 
eight dollars and fifty cents. The total product of the mill for the j-ear 1847 was one 
hundred and eight thousand pounds. The product for last week was one hundred and 
twenty-seven thousand pounds, or nearly twenty thousand pounds more than for the 
entire j-ear 1847. These mills are turning out cloth toda\^ at a rate of something more 
than eight miles per hour, and if necessary could put a band of gingham clear around the 
world in less than one year. 

The Bigelow Carpet Companj' was incorporated in 1854, and at once took and has 
always held a leading position in the carpet trade, using nothing but the best material and 
highest skill both in the organization and management. Their goods have always been 
in demand by the consuming public, who are willing to pay a good price for what they 
know to be the very best of their class. 

The Clinton Wire Cloth Company was incorporated in 1856, and for several years did 
business in but a small way. Today, however, they, like the Lancaster and Carpet, stand 
at the head of their class. Here, as in the other concerns mentioned, the highest skill is 
utilized to produce the largest quantity and the very best quality of goods. 

I said in the beginning that the founders of these industries builded wide and deep, 
and it is to their lives that the young men of todaj' may look for a lesson and take cour- 

"3 



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age for life's work. When we think of the Bigelows, of Amory, of Fairbanks, of Forbes, 
we are reminded of fair dealing, of honesty, integrity, and perseverence, and these qual- 
ities are the foundation of every successful life. These men were not perfect. They had 
their faults and foibles, which were undoubtedly eagerly seized upon by their contempor- 
aries, but today their names are spoken with respect and veneration. Their memory 
comes down to us surrounded by a halo of arduous duties well performed — of opportuni- 
ties embraced, and of strong lives well lived. 



After goods have been produced thej' have to find their way into our homes. This 
transfer of the manufactured article to the consumer constitutes what we call business, 
commerce or trade. We have in Clinton a lively and influential business men's or mer- 
chants' association, and the popular president of that association is with us. He will be 
pleased, I am sure, to tell us that — 

To business that we love we rise betimes 
And go to it with delight. 

It gives me pleasure to present Mr. Warren Goodale. 

Our Business Interests — Warren Goodale. 
Mr. Toastmaster, Sons and Daughters, Friends and Invited Guests of Clinton: 

We are standing today upon the threshold of another half century of the incorpor- 
ate life of Clinton, and as we enter its portals, glistening with the successes of the past, 
let us pause for a moment and consider the cause. The men who laid the foundations 
of our industries and conceived their possibilities were endowed with an inventive genius 
and business sagacity that has placed the manufactured products of Clinton in the mar- 
kets of the world. To this fact we owe in great measure the success of our business inter- 
ests. The honor is theirs, and we would not misplace it. 

The business interests of a community are its life blood, its very vitality. Its pulsat- 
ing influence enters every home, and is the theme of general comment by its people. 
Wherever the adventurer or pioneer has wandered and built his rude habitation, whether 
it be on a bleak New England coast, in the far West, in the cold and frigid atmosphere 
of a sunless sky, or under the burning rays of a tropic sun, under whatever circumstances 
and conditions, wherever are offered the opportunities for supplying the necessities and 
comforts of life, there you will find the business man. The same spirit which prompted 
John Prescott to build upon the banks of the South Meadow Brook a mill for the grinding 
of corn, setting in motion the wheels of industry, catering to the wants of the early pioneers 
of this locality, is characteristic of the business men of today. It is this spirit of business 
and developing the opportunity for business that has made the British nation what it is 
today. It is this same spirit coursing in the blood of the American people that one 
can safel\' predict will make of these United States a greater factor in the business 
world than any nation upon the face of the globe. 

In this era of prosperity and progress in which we are living, the methods of doing 
business have kept pace with the progressive spirit of the nineteenth century. If the busi- 
ness man were to adopt the methods in vogue fifty years ago in the conduct of his busi- 
ness, he would find failure and disaster his only customers. The country store, a once 
familiar landmark in this vicinity, has ceased to exist. Here gathered the village folks, 
and each contributed his share to this bureau of general information. Here no problem was 
too difficult to solve, no scheme so complex as to escape detection. Its shelves contained 

114 



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the requisites of life, and an order given was not expected to be filled in a hurry. Out of all 
this have evolved the stores and markets of today, with their costly and elaborate furnish- 
ings, a wealth of stock, and a system of minutest detail in the conduct of business. 

We are a manufacturing town; upon the activity of the shuttle depends our commer- 
cial prosperity. Trade fluctuates with the hum of machinerj-. Whenever the wheels of 
industry revolve with alacrity and enthusiasm, when orders accumulate in the counting- 
room, then business is good. But when from any cause the market becomes depressed, 
the wheels of industry cease their activity, a general season of hard times prevail. 

Allow me to read a list of names of some of the business men of Clinton: Poignand 
& Plant, Hunt, Thurston, Bancroft, Kendall, Worcester, Alexander, Greene, Harlow, 
Flagg, Knight, Haskell, Butterfield, Howard, Carter, Bowman, Blair, Peirce, Howell, 
Churchill, Atkinson, Rice, Tyler, Wilder, Field, Ballard, Messenger, Boynton, Burdett, 
Faulkner, Smith, Stearns, Foster, White, Ring, Sweat, Warren, Brimhall, Holden, Dun- 
bar, Lyon, Maynard, Burbank, Ashley and Winter. There are others, but time prevents 
my giving you their names. Many of these names are familiar upon our streets today, 
but the original proprietors are gone, and are counted in that army in whose ranks we 
some day shall be numbered; and let us hope that in the summing up the balance sheet of 
life's work their balances were on the right side. They were men whose influence helped 
to mould the sentiments and acts of this community. 

I am pleased to stand here tonight and say a word for the business men of today. 
It is with pleasure I speak of their honesty, integrity, and their devotion to business, I 
could say more, but you know them as well as I, consequently I will leave it for some 
speaker in the future, who can with rhetoric and eloquence better than mine, speak of 
that body of men who serve you. 



The next "Item " that I "Spy " on the program is " Our Newspapers." When I think 
of the lines I had chosen to read in connection with this toast, and remember that there 

"Are chields among us taking notes, 
And faith they'll print them;" 

remembering, also, who it is that is to respond to it, I am seized with a great trembling 
of the spirit. For woe betide the man upon whom falls the mighty weight of the Press. 

" How shall I speak thee, or thy power address. 

Thou god of our idolatry, the Press? 

By thee religion, liberty, and laws, 

Exert their influence, and advance their cause; 

By thee, worse plagues than Pharoah's land befell. 

Diffused, make earth the vestibule of hell; 

Thou fountain, at which drink the good and wise, 

Thou ever-bubbling spring of endless lies. 

Like Eden's dread probationary tree, 

Knowledge of good and evil is from thee ! " 

I have the great honor, sir, to be the " Herald " of the best editor on the " Globe," 
Mr. Wellington E. Parkhurst. 

Our Newspapers — W. E. Parkhurst. 

Mr. Chairman: 

If I had been asked to indulge in reminiscences, I might have invited this company 
to :;emernber old-time worthies : Philander Morse, whose persistent visitations in our 

"5 



The Banquet. 

homes resulted in extensive sales of pins, needles and thread, — or Jack Coburn, the col- 
ored man who honestly shaved the earlier citizens of Clinton ; I might have alluded to 
John Jennings, who, bourne on the shoulders of his admiring fellow-citizens, made a 
memorable speech on our common, — or to Caleb Carruth, who peddled " Garden Royal " 
apples from his royal garden, — with a complimentary reference to Richard Galle\', who 
"sawed wood " under a fly-tent, and improvised a tub-sprinkler, thus becoming the founder 
of the Street Sprinkling Association. But I am called out to say a word for the news- 
paper, and after my thirty-five years' connection with the local press I shall venture the 
proposition that the paper of today is a verj' different affair from what it was fifty years 
ago. In the olden time, the newspaper was heavily laden with elaborate articles penned 
for the edification of a people who had the time to read, one, two, or three-column editor- 
ials appearing in every issue ; in these later years, the rush of social and business life 
requires that such articles as are written to be read must come out in a severely con- 
densed form, and short discussions and brief paragraphs now gain more credit and more 
readers than those which are long-drawn. Space writing is becoming a lost art. 

Fifty years ago, personal items were not allowable, and in a southern state an editor 
was driven from town for daring to describe the dress of the bride at a public wedding. 
Then, the mention of a visitor from Connecticut, or of a trip to New Hampshire, the pur- 
chase of a farm or the building of a piazza-annex, usually elicited hints from angered cit- 
izens that the paper was indulging in that which was "none of its business." 

The city, as well as the country press, now recognizes modern requirements, and 
Sunday editions teem with secular paragraphs of a purely personal nature, all eagerly 
read, excepting in those rare instances vvherein very sensitive and very modest souls vig- 
orously object to the use of their own names in the making up of local history. 

Changes have come in the construction of newspapers, as in all other departments of 
life and service. Short articles and personal paragraphs now adorn the columns of every 
up-to-date sheet; and they have come to stay, because of a popular demand for condensed 
and personal literature. 

As you have asked me to speak for the Press, I conclude with the sentiment : " The 
Readers of the Press — wise, sensible and happy, because they know where to go for wis- 
dom, sense and good cheer." 



Without good and happy homes a town cannot amount to much; and without a good 
woman home cannot be. Woman makes the home, the home makes the town, and the 
town makes the nation. Clinton rejoices in being a town of happy homes, of good wives 
and mothers and sisters. No one is more familiar with the homes of Clinton than that 
veteran in the ministry, Dr. C. M. Bowers, and we had hoped to call upon him to reply 
to the sentiment: "The women of our homes, in whose hands lie the destiny of the town 
and the country." Unfortunately he has been obliged to leave us, and we must turn else- 
where. Some years ago, one of our business men betook himself to the metropolis of the 
country. In New York, as in Clinton, he is what we all know him to be, a whole man. 
I am sure we shall all be pleased to hear again the voice of Mr. Frank E. Holman. 
Mr. Toastmaster : 

I see about me many prodigal sons and daughters who, like myself, have returned 
to their native town tonight, still loyal in spirit and affection. I infer that we all are in a 
reminiscent mood on this occasion. Memories come floating in and mental pictures pass 
before us with such kaliedoscopic rapidity as to almost confuse the mind and sense. 
Measured by the life of the individual, fifty years seems a long period; to some of us who 

ii6 



The Banquet. 

have not yet reached the half century mark, so varied has been the experience of life, 
the journey has seemed long and the mile-stones far apart. How different, sir, with cor- 
porate municipal existence ; measured by the history of commonwealths and municipali- 
ties, fifty years, how brief! And yet, how much has been accomplished by an aggregation of 
effort and unity of purpose! Many of us remember the picturesque village, its rapid 
growth to the more pretentious and active town, which gradually lost a certain provin- 
cialism, and in more recent years has naturally and rightfully assumed the airs of a young 
metropolis. Every citizen, whatever his condition or circumstances, has contributed his 
mite, until today Clinton outranks many of her older sisters in the Commonwealth in 
population, wealth and industrial enterprise. 

As has been said, we owe much to the pioneers and early town fathers, whose cour- 
age and sagacity gave us the foundations for this beautiful town and its industries, but, 
sir, we owe equally as much to the sons of those men who, resisting the allurements of 
distant city and broader spheres of commercial and professional activity, have remained 
in your midst, loyally assuming the duties laid aside by their fathers and faithfully labor- 
ing to promote the industrial, moral and religious welfare of the community; and, sir, I 
would not forget the larger number of our citizens who, although born beyond the limits 
of Clinton, have cast their lot with you, and with their money, labor, and in a spirit of 
enterprise have contributed so much to the prosperity' of the town. All are citizens and 
sons of Clinton tonight, and loyal to her interests. 

Mr. Toastmaster, in conclusion allow me to express the hope that fifty years hence, 
when the citizens of Clinton meet to celebrate the centennial, may they have reason to 
be as proud of the achievements of the next fifty years as we tonight have of the record 
of the fifty now past. 



"Who loves not knowledge? Who shall rail 
Against her beauty? May she mix 
With men and prosper! Who shall fix 
Her pillars? Let her work prevail." 

No one who witnessed the magnificent spectacle of the school children as they 
wended their way through the streets this morning, can doubt that Clinton has a bright 
prospect before her. These thousands of children are in our schools, not alone gathering 
facts of nature and history, but they are becoming imbued with the spirit and principles 
of citizenship and patriotism. No one is better qualified to speak for our schools than 
the honored principal of our High School. As a sentiment to this toast let me quote the 
words of the present President of the United States of America : 

The Public School. — " It is better than garrisons and guns, than forts and fleets. It 
is the gateway to progress, prosperity and honor — the best security for the liberties and 
independence of the people." 

Allow me, sir, to present Mr. Ford. 

Our Schools — Andrew E. Ford. 
Mr. Toastmaster, Ladies and Gentlemen : 

What is the chief glory of the town whose anniversary we celebrate to-night? -^^' — 



We may well be proud of its industrial record, with its first grist-mill in Worcester 
county, with its stalwart race of farmers and mill-wrights, with its sturdy comb-makers, 
whose products were distributed throughout the land, with its earliest cotton factory of 
this region, one of the first in America, with the mills started by the Bigelows, the first 



[17 



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in the world where coach lace, counterpanes, ginghams, Brussels and Wilton carpeting 
and wire cloth were successfully woven by power. We may rejoice, too, that our commu- 
nity has given to the world without, more than it has received from it, in the product of 
labor. There have been few drones in this busy hive, few that lived without labor, either 
upon charity or inherited wealth. The settlement had its origin in a public need rather than 
in selfish aims, as is attested by the liberal grants given to Prescott for founding his grist- 
mill, and from his day to this, our community has been not a sewer, but a continual 
fountain of industrial energy. 

We may glory in the fact that Clinton is a town of independent homes. When our 
corporations first began their labors, a considerable number of boarding and tenement 
houses were built, but few have been added since that time. Our workmen, to a degree 
almost without precedent in our mill towns, own their own dwelling places. This has 
given an exceptional opportunity for the development of the home life with all the bless- 
ings that it brings. 

We may boast of the service our community has rendered the country in her hours of 
need. At the time of the Revolution, it was the Sawyers, Prescotts, Aliens and Dr. Duns- 
moor, all inhabitants of the southern part of Lancaster, who led the patriot cause and 
forced the tories of the central part, either to withdraw or aid in freeing the colonies from 
the British yoke. In the Civil War, Clinton furnished more men to the Union armies, in 
proportion to her population, than any other town of the old Bay State, the foremost 
state of all the land. And in what regiments they fought! They were in the Fifteenth, 
which stood fifth among all the Northern regiments in the list of losses ; in the Twenty- 
fifth, which lost in the battle of Cold Harbor more men than any other regiment lost in a 
single engagement in the whole war ; in the fighting Twenty-first, the Thirty-fourth, the 
Thirty-sixth, the Fifty-third, and many other noble regiments. Wherever the danger was 
greatest, wherever blood flowed most freely, wherever the most daring deeds were done, 
there upon the perilous edge of battle, Clinton men were found ready to meet the issue. 
And in the Spanish-American War, point to a town in New England if you can, that gave 
her sons more liberally or suffered more severely than this same Clinton. 

Yet if we were making tonight a crown for the fair brow of our beloved town, while we 
might find the golden basis of this crown in our industrial record, while we should give a 
prominent place to the ruby of home life, glowing with the warm tints of affection, while 
the diamond of patriotism should be set where it might flash its lessons in every eye, and 
other gems "of purest ray serene" should add to its beauty, yet the central place should 
be reserved for a pearl, a pearl of great price. What is this pearl? What is the chief 
glory of Clinton? It is the vital, seminal Spirit of Progress which animates our town 
as a whole, and its citizens as individuals. We have never been content with the present, 
but always pressing on to something higher. Out of this spirit have grown our industrial 
triumphs, our independent homes, our record of service to the country, and whatever 
else has been most noble in our history. This spirit of progress has been our greatest 
glory in the past, and it is our main hope for the future. 

As a result of this spirit, Clinton is a better place to live in than it was ten years ago. 
The average man of Clinton is superior to his parents, superior in material prosperity, 
superior in physique, superior in mental ability, in knowledge, in breadth of view, superior 
in character, in self-restraint, in integrity, in brotherlj- love, in compassion, superior in 
that pure and undefiled religion which visits " the fatherless, and the widows in their 
affliction," and keeps itself "unspotted from the world." This is true, both of those who 
have for generations enjoyed the privileges of New England, and of those who have 



The Banquet. 

come from lands where there have been fewer opportunities of culture. I am filled with 
amazement, when I consider the changes which a single generation has wrought for good 
in the character of our people. This statement is not derogatory to our parents. Far 
otherwise, for what parent is there here tonight, who would not consider it his greatest 
honor, that he has made it possible through his labors, for his children to become superior 
to himself ? 

Why is it that this spirit exists in such a preeminent degree in Clinton? It is due in 
part to the natural character of the people, in part to institutions through which the 
forces existing in individuals have been disseminated through the community. The 
church, the home, the town has done much, but, as each of these delegates many of its 
functions to the schools during the most formative period in the lives of the youth, it 
may surel}' be claimed that no small part of this progressive spirit is developed there. 

The power of the schools in developing the spirit of progress has come in a considera- 
ble measure from those who have had them in charge, from such men as Franklin 
Forbes, John T. Dame, the present chairman of the school committee, and their associ- 
ates. Major James M. Ingalls, who taught our gunners how to batter down the power of 
feudal Spain, which was crushing out the life of the fair islands of the tropic seas, told me 
yesterday, "I well remember the interest Franklin Forbes took in my studies and the 
encouragement he gave me." How many other sons of Clinton in whose deeds we glory 
tonight could say the same! There was enough yeast in the character of Franklin Forbes 
alone to leaven the whole town. 

This spirit of progress has been nourished by our teachers who have devoted their best 
energies to inspiring ambition and directing it into proper channels. Who can measure 
the influence of such a teacher as Sara C. Cobb, who through nearly half a century, by 
the accuracy of her scholarship, the firmness of her discipline and the rigidity of her 
requirements, stiffened the backbone of two generations of Clinton youth and trained 
them for the strenuous, progressive life? Yet she is only one of many earnest workers. 

If time allowed, it would be interesting to study the progress of our school system 
itself in equipment, in aims and in method. This is impossible, but one word must be 
said further about the results, although it was with this topic we began. For the Clinton 
schools have not only nourished the spirit of progress in those who have helped to develop 
our own town, but in those also who have been a great influence for good in the country 
at large. Who laid the first railroad in the Valley of the Mississippi and started the great 
flouring mills of the middle West? School boys from District No. lO.* Who was it 
acted as president of Brown University in the hours of greatest stress, and for years so 
conducted the charities of Rhode Island as to lead the world to nobler ways of reform? 
A school boy from District No. ii.f Who in the time of worst corruption was made 
mayor of Chicago that he might cleanse the polluted city of its sin? A Clinton school 
boy.j Who from the pulpit of our great metropolis challenged the rampant powers of 
evil and forced them to seek their lurking places in shame? A Clinton school boy.§ We 
find Clinton school boys irrigating the arid deserts and making them blossom like the 
rose, II building and managing great lines of communication, controlling mighty indus- 
tries, enriching the life blood of new states, teaching the science of war, leading soldiers to 
victory, urging reform upon the platform, making the world more beautiful through their 
art, sowing the seed of progress, spreading enlightenment through the press, healing dis- 

* George P. Plant and brothers. t George Ide Chace. 

J John A. Roche. §Rev. Charles H. Parkhurst. 

II Actual Clinton pupils were in mind in each of these phases of work, but the list is too long to print. 

1 19 C9) 



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eases, establishing justice, fighting from pulpit and altar the powers of darkness. And 
we find Clinton school girls, as mothers, as wives, as leaders in society, as teachers, doing 
no less than their brothers for the progress of the race. 

Let me close with this sentiment: Our common schools, the nurseries of the spirit 
of progress, may they continue their work until sloth and ignorance and narrow-minded- 
ness and bigotry shall disappear, and all men shall work together, wisely and righteously, 
as brothers, for the common good. 



Though a town had mills and stores and offices and homes and schools without num- 
ber, but no temples for the worship of ideal Being, it would be like a body without a 
soul; for when all is said, it is love of God, not lust for gain or thirst for knowledge, by 
which a town really prospers. We are privileged in having with us tonight a representa- 
tive of the Christian Church, and I have the happiness to invite him to reply to the sen- 
timent: 

Our Churches — the guardians of the spiritual principle in man by which alone he is 
delivered from secularism and animalism, and dedicated to moral worship and social 
service. 

The Rev. Edward J. Fitzgerald. 

Mr. Toastmaster, Ladies and Gentlemen: 

To speak for the clergy of Clinton personally would be an impossibility for me 
since I am a comparative stranger among you, and hence I must conceive my toast in a 
broader spirit and speak for the clergy of our country — for the American clergy. 

Even concerning my toast on these broad, general lines, I am still confronted by a 
serious difficulty. I represent but a single church — the oldest, 'tis true, but still a single 
church — and I am called upon to speak for my brethren of every denomination, of every 
stripe of Christian belief. I must speak for John Carroll, the friend of Washington, who 
in the dark days of '76 stood firm and steadfast in defence of the colonies, the country of his 
adoption; I must speak for John Hughes, who when our country was again in the throes 
of an awful strife, whose outcome was to settle her fate for aye, was one of the strongest 
voices raised in defence of the grand old doctrine, "Union and Liberty;" I must speak 
for John Ireland, that matchless type of patriot gentleman and churchman; I likewise 
represent John Eliot, who vied with the men of ni}- church in carrying the message of 
peace and good-will to his red brethren, who devoted his life to civilizing, b}- the gentle 
arts of religion and brotherly kindness, the aboriginal settlers of our Massachusetts; for 
a Dwight Moody, whose great-hearted and magnificent energy has been stilled but so 
lately in death; for a Philips Brooks, that noble type of everything high and lofty, that 
model and inspirer of the young men of our state, whose wholesome influence still speaks 
to the country through the students of our oldest University, in the Memorial Building 
which grateful hearts have raised to his memory. These are but some of the names, 
taken at random from the catalogue of the American clerg)', who have made a place for 
themselves in the hearts of the American people and in the history of the greatest 
of the American republics. To speak for all and yet say no word that would be 
unwelcome to any, to frame a message that would embody the teaching of men so widely 
divergent in religious belief and profession, is the difficulty that confronts me. And yet, 
in fact, I believe that underlying all these different creeds there is a fundamental virtue 
or characteristic which marks the clergyman, whatever be his professed belief. This 

120 



The Banquet. 

characteristic may work itself out in various ways; ma)' find a widely divergent expres- 
sion when formulated, but at bottom the same desire marks a man of the clerical voca- 
tion everywhere, viz: a desire to devote his life to the betterment of his fellows, individ- 
ually or in society. I do not mean to sa\- that creed does not count, that dogma may be 
eliminated from the Christian lite, that one religion is as good as another. I do not say 
this; I do not believe such a doctrine; but I do believe that the motive which leads the 
young man to devote his life to the noble task of making his generation better men and 
citizens, as well as better Christians, is common to all clerg)'men, and whether we follow 
them to the end or not, such altruism demands our respect and admiration, and offers 
a platform broad enough for all clergymen to stand upon as brethren in Christ. 

The clerg)- is the great conservative principle in our life. In a country like ours, 
which has made and is making great strides in every line of thought and work, where the 
tremendous hurry of affairs bewilders us, where the will of the majority is the law of our 
national being, we need a fearless, conservative element to play the part of watchman in 
Israel and tell us "what of the night." This the clergy does. How important a part it 
is a moment's reflection will convince us; how nobly, how honorably the clergy have 
realized it, a glance over our country's history will assure us. There has been no reform, 
no great moral movement undertaken, no great crusade preached without the clergy, either 
initiating it or supporting it, sustaining it and carrying it out to a triumphal conclusion. 

The clergy is altruistic — it works for men, not reward. No monetary interest has 
fitted a collar about the neck of the clergy; the clergy is no man's thrall; no political 
party has put its iron heel upon the neck of the clergy; the clergy is no party's slave. 
Clergymen may have sold themselves, clergymen may have forgotten their high vocation, 
clergymen may have prostituted their influence and pulpit to unworthy ends, but the 
clergv, never; for the clerg)' is God's herald in the world; the clergy speaks for God and 
in God's name; the clergy can speak no lie. Massachusetts began its political life as a 
mitigated theocracy. Men have said that the pulpit has declined in vigor and influence 
in our day. Such men have not read the times aright. The clergy no longer govern with 
the iron hand of colonial times, but they still lead public opinion on questions of right 
and wrong, private or national, and public opinion rules our free land. 

I rejoice then that I am of the clergy, and I am honored that on such a day, before 
such a brilliant, representative audience, I should be selected to speak for the clergy. 
The message I bring is no new one; it has rung out from every pulpit; it has resounded 
m every hall — it has spoken to the millions in every issue of the press: Be true men; 
valiant, upright, Christian: Be true women; pure, inspiring, helpful. This is the message 
of the clergy preached by word and example from the hour when Columbus took posses- 
sion of our land in the name of God and under the shadow of the cross. 

Then here's to the clergy; may their wholesome, inspiring influence never wane; 
may their loft)' aim never be lowered; may the American people never lose faith in the 
guidance of the American clergy. 



Having glanced into the past and scanned the present, we are now to face the future. 
We no more doubt that we are to have a future than we doubt that we have had a past. 
As Thomas Carlyle so truly sa)s: "Yesterday and tomorrow both are." We have listened 
to the stories of the past; we have been made familiar with the conditions of the present; 
we are now to listen to the prophet's burning words. I have the honor, sir, to call upon 
Mr C. F. Fairbanks, Jr., who is to tell us that 

"The best is yet to be." 



The Banquet. 

Clinton: its Future— C. Frank Fairbanks, Jr. 

Mr. Toastmaster, Ladies and Gentlemen: 

It is with pleasure that I respond to the toast, "Clinton: its Future," a pleasure 
mingled with pride, for, if I mistake not the conditions, if I read aright the signs, the 
future of Clinton is most promising. Its influence is destined to be more widespread, its 
growth more extensive, its institutious more numerous. In a word, the young men of 
Clinton are not going backward in the path marked out by those who have gone before 
us. A memorable record of fifty years confronts us. The great development in the 
industrial, educational and civic life has been marvellous — a growth that few communi- 
ties in this or any other commonwealth can boast of. No wonder, when we contemplate 
the first work and the results of the band of pioneers who settled here and built up the Clin- 
ton of today, that we realize ours is a great responsibility. This public building within 
whose walls the men of Clinton have exercised their greatest prerogative for years; the 
monument in front of this building; yonder public park and magnificent churches; the 
beautiful school buildings, and the pleasant homes, bespeak a tribute to the noble work 
of the men of the past. 

You ask me, what of the future? I answer, young men, in our hands tonight is 
placed a standard. How shall we carry it? Fifty years hence we shall stand here as 
these gray-haired veterans do, and our children will then testify to whether we have 
been false or true to the high standard that we receive today. Let the past inspire us to 
greater effort. Let the stream that first brought life and energy through the mill-wheel 
to Clinton, that now turns wheel after wheel, that has brought up industry after industry 
along its banks, be symbolical of our progress as the years flow on. Better than all else, let 
us continue the prosperity, the happiness and the contentment that the Almighty destined 
should be ours when he gave us the Nashua and its tributaries, out of which the founders 
of this community brought forth a town. Let us learn the lesson of advancement and 
development from the fact that within our borders — the community in which the first 
cotton mill was erected in the country — now stand three of the largest industries of their 
kind in the world. 

We may not be able fifty years hence to point with pride to the part we took in mak- 
ing the village of 1850 the largest town in the county in 1900; but we can strive to make 
the city of 1950, if not the largest in population, the largest in contribution of manhood 
and womanhood, of patriotism and loyalty to the nation. I know of no better testimony 
in support of the assertion that the good work of the past has inspired the younger gen- 
eration, than the spectacle you witnessed on these streets about two years ago. I refer 
to the young men who went out at their country's call to represent her where danger, 
disease and destruction threatened them, and at a time when the country's honor was at 
stake. They responded, these Clinton boys, promptly and proudly, because their coun- 
try needed them. So, in the future when Clinton needs loyal sons and daughters to rep- 
resent her in the legislative hall, in her local government, in her professional, business or 
industrial life, she will find them, as in the past, ready and waiting. 

I should be unworthy to represent the toast that is mine, did I not caution young men 
against one danger — a danger that has already impaired the growth and true influence of 
Clinton. To speak plainl}-, I refer to the political strife, the rank partizanship that has 
characterized our deliberations in the past. I have no party or person to blame, but in 
the future we must protest against it; for I believe it sucks at the very life-blood of the 
town. Let us learn to place Clinton's interests above party and above individual. Let 



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The Banquet. 

our watchword be "Advancement," mindful that no good results ever came from narrow 
partizanship, religious bigotry, or political jealousies. 

iVIr. Toastmaster, I believe I can pledge for the young men that the standard of 
excellence and of progress that Clinton has toda)- reached will be handed down to future 
generations not onl)' unstained and untarnished, but broadened and developed in every 
direction and in every department. 



While this is distinctly a family gathering and we have indulged a good deal in blow- 
ing our own horn, we would not be unmindful that we form but a unit in a still larger 
family. We rejoice to belong to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. There sits at 
table with us one who knows something about what is going on in the councils of the 
state. He is a young man, but he has managed already to make quite a noise down 
about Boston; and unless all signs fail, before we celebrate our centennial anniversar)- he 
will make a louder noise still. Not inappropriate upon his lips would be the apostolic 
words: "I think it right, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up." JVIr. Walsh, 
arise and stir us up by replying to the sentiment: 

The State of Massachusetts: The pioneer of civil and religious liberty, public educa- 
tion and justice to all her citizens. May her sons and daughters never cease to stand for 
freedom, intelligence and righteousness. 

Massachusetts — David I. Walsh. 

Mr. Toastmaster, Ladies and Gentlemen: 

We do well in the midst of these exercises, commemorative of our town's anniver- 
sary, to pause and pay tribute to the mother of that town, the Commonwealth of Massa- 
chusetts. Every word of praise uttered tonight in behalf of Clinton is applicable to 
Massachusetts, for the town is part, a necessary part, of the state. 

But Massachusetts needs no orator to speak for her. Plymouth Rock, Bunker Hill, 
Fanueil Hall, Lexington, Concord, speak for her through the ages, silently to be sure, yet 
how forcible! Forever they tell the story of her past glory and wonderful achievements, 
the noble and loyal services of her founders and their descendants. Can we suppress our 
admiration when we recall the sufferings, the hardships and privations of those early emi- 
grants who, driven from home and native land, willing 

"To bear within their breasts 
The deep, unutterable woe. 
Which none save exiles feel," 

landed on these shores and laid the foundations of the world's greatest government? 
What emotions more strongly aggitate the human heart than those which arise when we 
contemplate the early struggles and final triumphs of those children of Massachusetts, 
who fought and died that we, their descendants, might enjoy those liberties, civil, relig- 
ious and political, which were denied them in the old world! Truly, ours is a precious 
remembrance. What are we to do with it? Are we simply to enjoy it? No, inheritance 
implies responsibility. We must preserve the liberties and institutions that are the pride 
of Massachusetts and that have been handed down to us with their original lustre 
undimmed and unstained by time. 

I know of nothing that has impressed me more forcibly with the debt of gratitude 
we owe to Massachusetts and her departed sons than that simple yet eloquent memorial 
which I first saw when I swore allegiance to her as a representative to her General Court. 

123 



The Banquet. 

Encircling the dome of the House chamber, like stars in the firmament, stanH out that 
galaxy of glorious names, her illustrious sons. An inspiring roll! Here, surely, can any 
servant of our Commonwealth draw inspiration unfailingly to assist him, to encourage 
him, to elevate him. 

To the memory of one of the noblest women of ancient history the Romans erected 
a monument which bore this inscription: "To Cornelia, the Mother of the Gracchi." 
The storj' of her devotion to countr)' is one of the most inspiring in history. She it was 
who, when her jewels were demanded, proudly turned to her sons and cried out, "These 
are my jewels." If Massachusetts could speak, think you she would hesitate to proclaim 
her patriotic sons and daughters, her jewels? 

Mindful, then, of the glorious record of the past, inspired b}' the devotion of her 
heroes and statesmen, let us strive to make the Massachusetts of tomorrow what she has 
always been, first in war, first in peace, first in the uplifting of the great mass of citizens, 
who look to her for education, freedom, virtue and protection against tyranny and 
oppression. 



These streamers floating over our heads remind us that we belong to a yet larger 
political household. No one can recall that he is a citizen of these United States without 
being conscious of a new dignit)', for he is made aware that he is a part, the seventy- 
millioneth part, it may be, nevertheless a part, of a nation pledged to freedom, justice 
and brotherhood. Our revered citizen, the Hon. Daniel B. Ingalls, will respond to the 
sentiment: 

The United States of America: The land of liberty, equality and fraternity. May 
these eternal principles for which our fathers lived and labored and suffered and died be 
maintained bright as the stars forever. 

The United States of America — Dr. Daniel B. Ingalls. 
Mr. Toastmastcr, Ladies a?id Gentlemen: 

It is said that Leigh Hunt was accustomed to go out of his way even while very 
tired, in order to walk through Gold Street where Dryden had lived, and thus give him- 
self "the shadow of a pleasant thought." 

It is a pleasure to meet this representative "gathering of the Clinton of today, and 
especially so under the circumstances that call us together. This celebration of the 
fiftieth anniversary of the legal establishment of our common home will become a his- 
toric event in the annals of the town, and therefore is of interest to all of us. 

The question to which I am asked to speak tonight gives me the shadow of many 
pleasant thoughts, "Clinton and its relation to the nation." It calls to mind the men 
that were prominent in the business, social and political gatherings of the past, men who 
were active in laying the foundations of the coming town, and who builded so wisely that 
they were enabled to leave to their successors one of the most beautiful towns in the 
Commonwealth, and an example of public spirit that will ever adorn its history. Clinton 
started at an opportune time in the history of the nation. In 1850, the United States had 
a population of about twenty-three million, and a valuation of over seven billions. Ten 
years later, i860, there was thirty-one million population and sixteen billion valuation, 
and a much larger proportional increase in the amount and value of manufactured goods. 
We were at the parting of the ways between hand work and machine work in many 
departments of labor, and Clinton proved herself no mean constituent in the growing 
republic, and made its mark in the industries of the nation. Early in the history 

124 



The Banquet. 

of the village went forth from the little mill on Water Street where now stands 
the growing plant of the woolen mill of Mr. Rodger, the Clinton counterpane, and in 
those days it was the ambition of every housewife that one of these should adorn the bed 
in the guest chamber. Through the inventive genius of the founders of Clinton, there 
was a contribution to the aesthetic education of the nation bj' giving it the Clinton coach- 
lace, with which public and private coaches were trimmed, as well as the cars of those 
days. The Bigelow Brussels and Wilton carpets are household words throughout 
the civilized world, and have adorned not only the palace but the home in all lands. 
Clinton has emphasized her position in the nation by clothing the millions with her ging- 
hams and giving to the world the fact that a machine can handle six or more shuttles 
with greater accuracy than the human hand. Since the power-loom was started in Clinton 
that used wire as easil)' as threads of cotton are used, the use of wire has manufactured 
more wants and satisfied them in more ways than any invention of modern times. It has 
revolutionized the culinary utensils of our home, it has taken the place of other fences 
upon our farms, it is made use of in defensive war, and is taxing the ingenuity of many 
men to find some new form in which to bend it to meet a coming or a present want. It 
is only necessary to mention those lines of industry that were started by the inventions 
of Mr. Erastus B. Bigelow. They were not only the cause for the existence of the town, 
but the permanent character of the inventions and the utility of the product has devel- 
oped a natural growth in those early started industries that remain with us, that keeps 
pace with and largely controls the growth of the town. Industrially, Clinton holds an 
enviable position in our own and other nations of the world. 

Patriotically, Clinton has a good record in a state that occupies no mean position in 
our past history. Early in the history of the town Clinton was represented in the militia 
of the state, and when the unpleasantness that had long existed between the North and 
the South ripened into rebellion!, Clinton was not unprepared. Two months before the 
firing upon Fort Sumpter, the Clinton Light Guards notified the governor that they were 
ready to go to the front, and more than a month before open hostilities the town voted 
one thousand dollars to pay for service uniforms for the men. The action of the town 
was without authority, but Clinton carried the standard forward, and the legislature 
brought the law up to it and legalized the act. And as far as we know, Clinton was the 
first municipality to vote money looking toward the putting down of the rebellion. The 
town has an honorable standing in the history of the war. The records at the State House 
give Clinton a surplus of forty-eight above the demands of all calls. We were equally 
fortunate in being prepared for the late Spanish-American War, and Clinton was well 
represented in the various conflicts. 

Clinton, in her patriotism as well as in her industries, has been true to the American 
ideal of government for an industrious and patriotic people. Clinton has more than kept 
pace with the growth of the whole country, in population as well as in valuation. She 
started with a valuation of one million two hundred and forty thousand, and we have been 
rated as having a debt at that time of four dollars and a half, and we have more than 
held our own. Clinton has not only contributed to the industry of the nation in general, 
but in the personnel of her citizens, they have been ambitious as well as industrious. 
It used to be said by those visiting here that Clinton was the most unsatisfactory place 
to loaf in to be found anywhere, everyone seemed to be so busy. Such a condition of 
things brings its reward. Clinton has furnished from her trained workmen, men to carry 
their industrious habits and enterprise to other parts of the country, to superintend the 
building of industries in the South, and to manage large interests in other states. 

125 



The Banquet, 

If we have only contributed Patriotism and Industry to the general store that goes 
to make up the ideal nation, we have come short of the demand that is made upon munici- 
palities as well as npon individuals. There is an ethical side to a government as well as 
to an individual life that needs cultivating by education. Without trespassing upon 
grounds allotted to others, we will simply call attention to the fact that Clinton has sent 
out representatives from her churches and her schools who have been recognized by the 
nation as teachers of men, and are doing good work in their several fields of labor. 

Clinton is just now being brought into peculiar publicity by the gigantic works being 
constructed in our midst by the State of Massachusetts, to furnish water for the Metro- 
politan district. And in this we have attained a height of self-abnegation for the good 
of others that places us ethically very near the Divine standard. When they said, "We 
want your river," we said, "Yes, take our river, and take our territorj', too, and take what- 
ever else you need, and we will rely upon your kindness for future reciprocation." As a 
town, we reached a height of sublimity unknown to mortals before. The command, "If 
they take your coat, give them j'our cloak also," would seem to be the Divine standaid 
of condescension for human intercourse. As a town we come so near to it, that in all the 
annals of human history there could not be found a people with whom to share the honor 
of making such a contribution without a protest. 

When the United States said to Spain, "You must stop your oppression and cruelty in 
Cuba; before we will allow it to go any farther we will go to war, to save those poor, 
starving women and children, understanding the uncertainty and woe that is contained in 
that fearful word, war," the world applauded the position we took. To come back to 
our sentiment, "Clinton's relation to the Nation," in our relation with the general gov- 
ernment in the coming years there will be a contest over the question, "To which, the 
Town or the Nation, belongs the honor of giving to the world the most disinterested 
example of philanthropic benevolence?" 



The exercises closed with the singing of "America," in which all heartily joined. 

The central thought which prevailed in these exercises cannot be better presented 
than in the words of a sermon preached on the following Sunday by Rev. James C. Dun- 
can, the toastmaster : 

"The recent celebration, with its resurrection of the past, its laudation of the present 
and its prophecies of the future, has created a clearer consciousness of our municipal 
unity. And in this sense of a united life, we realize the futility, the uselessness, the sense- 
lessness of a bitter party spirit. The celebration taught us that beneath all differences of 
creed and party, there exists a platform upon which we can all take our stand. Seldom 
have I taken part in a more inspiring occasion than the banquet last Monday evening. 
With all reverence, I can speak of it as our municipal sacrament. There we were, citizens 
of every ecclesiastical and political shade of opinion, gathered around the same table 
breaking bread together out of a love common to us all. Every one present must have 
felt, though they did not stop to analyze and name the feeling, that a real bond of union 
cemented all the citizens of the town into one family. If the celebration shall have done 
nothing else than create in us the consciousness that we are all one; one community, one 
town, one municipal family, and that our happiness and prosperity consist in cooperation, 
in working together, in subordinating personal and party interests for the welfare of the 
whole town, it will have amply justified itself." 



126 



HISTORICAL, LITERARY, AND MUSICAL 

EXERCISES. 

I "HE celebration culminated in the literary, musical and spectacular exercises of Tues- 
•*• day. This was the day on which the greatest expense was lavished, the greatest 
crowds were gathered, and the greatest enthusiasm was shown. In order that the spectac- 
ular exercises may be treated together and that those of a historical and literary character 
may be more closely joined to those of the preceding day, the latter, though occurring 
in the afternoon, will be first presented. 

The music was in charge of the Clinton Choral Union. For the past six years the 
musical interests of the community have centered in this organization. In its weekly 
rehearsals, our singers have had a much prized opportunity for enjoyment and for vocal 
culture, and in its concerts, all lovers of good music have found a source of great delight. 
It furnished for this occasion, a chorus of eighty voices and secured for accompaniment 
and the rendering of instrumental selections, the Semi-Centennial Orchestra, made up of 
seventeen pieces from the Symphony Orchestra of Boston. Eugene Buzzell, who has 
been the conductor of the Choral Union during its entire existence, and to whose able 
leadership it owes much of its prosperity and efficiency, arranged the musical program. 
Jules Jordan, whose experience in such matters is unsurpassed, spoke of this program as 
one of "remarkable excellence." Doubtless, in the elevation of sentiment by which the 
selections were characterized, some of the audience found a more complete expression of 
the feelings which the day awakened than in the words of the speakers. The instrumen- 
tal concert by the orchestra formed the prologue to the exercises. It was supposed that 
this part of the program would be given while the audience was gathering, but such an 
appreciation of good music has been developed by the efforts of the Choral Union, that 
the hall was well filled before the first note was sounded. It is unnecessary to speak of 
the perfection of the rendering of these selections, for nothing less is ever expected of 
the members of the Symphony Orchestra. The numbers, though no less classical, were 
somewhat lighter than those which followed. In the chorus singing, in addition to the 
faultless accompaniment, the harmonious adaption of part to part and the finished tech- 
nique which are the result of years of careful training, there was a heartiness and a depth 
of feeling which only such an occasion could call forth. 

After the overture, "Jubel," which closed with the singing of "America" by the chorus 
and the audience, Wellington E. Parkhurst, president of the day, spoke as follows : 

Citizetis of Clijiton, Ladies and Gentlemen, and Invited Guests : 

"Our year of jubilee" has come, and it gives me pleasure to welcome you to this 
festival, and to offer you the literary program of the hour. 

Publicly and privately, our town has enjoyed laudation and compliments without 
stint during these three days of our anniversary. Our guests and our returning sons and 
daughters have been lavish in their expressions of admiration of Clinton, seated, like old 

127 



Historical Address. 

Rome, upon her seven hills, and decked in her choicest robes ; they have been charmed 
by the sight of our many and prosperous manufactories, which, from our municipal 
infancy, have been the strength and life of the town; they have enjoyed our elm-embow- 
ered streets, and our gem of a park, agreeing with us that there is no fairer embryotic 
city in the geographical triangle, whose apices are the Berkshire hills, the rock-bound 
coast of Essex, and the sand dunes of the Cape. 

But it is not the busy wheels, modest hills, verdant lawns, lovely lakes nor meander- 
ing brooks which demand and receive our superlative appreciation. We admire our nat- 
ural scenery, but our heartiest homage is paid to the founders of our town, whose fore- 
thought and sagacity made possible the Clinton of today. 

There is no heritage like an intelligent and virtuous ancestry. We may invest 
in stocks and bonds, and we may, or we may not, receive our dividends, but a wise and 
patriotic ancestry is an investment which is always at or beyond "pa," yielding dividends 
which moth cannot corrupt nor thieves break into and steal, and subject to no fluctuations 
among the bulls and bears of Wall Street. 

With profound gratitude to the men who so well wrought on the foundations of our 
municipal superstructure, and in faith that the men and women of 1950 will esteem us as 
we esteem our predecessors of 1850, we now launch our ship of state on the waves for 
another voyage, chartered and well freighted for a centennial port. 

Rev. Charles M. Bowers, D. D., who has walked among us as a servant of God during 
the whole fifty years of our corporate existence, gave utterance in prayer to our gratitude 
for the Divine favor which has thus far attended our way, and besought that our course 
in time to come might be worthy of the continuance of the blessing of heaven. 



HISTORICAL ADD,RESS. 

HON. JOHN W. CORCORAN. 

The event we celebrate is the most notable and important in our local history. It 
marks the birth of independent government on this soil, and commemorates a splendid 
contribution to the municipalities of the Commonwealth. While it is of consuming inter- 
est to the citizens of this town, may we not assure ourselves that it is of considerable con- 
cern to the people of Massachusetts? The individual is the unit of the political family 
we call the town; but the town is the unit of the political family we call the state. 

Proud of the success that has attended half a century of municipal life; proud, like- 
wise, of the material progress achieved; prouder still of the beautiful town which the 
fathers founded and the sons builded; Clinton proclaims to the world its fiftieth birthday, 
and invites friends and neighbors to its homes and firesides. 

The story of its birth, its growth and its development is most fittingly told in the 
recital of accomplished facts. To do justice, however, to the narrative, it will be neces- 
sary to turn back a few pages in the history of the mother town — a history rich in honors 
and dignities earned by her children. In every sense of the word, Lancaster is a remark- 
able town — the prolific mother of all our neighboring towns. In peace, honored by the 
civic virtues of her sons; in war, distinguished by their martial deeds and prowess. It is 
not for us to appropriate a single page of this splendid history; but may we not look to 
the family record for the story of Clinton's origin and development? 

128 



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CONTOUR MAP. 

Contour interval 20 feet. Datum sea level. As the height of the water in the Metropolitan Reservoir is to be 395 feet, the 
boundaries will be between the 400 ft. and 3S0 ft. contour lines. The dotted lines indicate boundaries of ledge rock. 1 here is some 
granite bordering on the quartzite on Burditt and Harris Hills which cannot be shown in the map. The slate is found m the whole 
region northwest of these nills. 



Historical Address. 

I go back to John Prescott, the pioneer and founder, because he was the man who 
laid the first stone in the foundation of Clinton's possibilities. Whether in the Indian 
wars or in the pursuits of peace, he was a leader among men, and impressed the power 
of his individuality on his times and his fellows. He built the first mill in this region, 
and its site was that now occupied by the Clinton Worsted Company. It was a corn-mill, 
and to its grindlngs was brought the product of the jeomen of a large portion of what is 
now Worcester and Middlesex Counties. I advert to this enterprise, because it was the 
forerunner of events that made Clinton possible, and because, as early as the middle of 
the seventeenth century, it noted physical conditions which, in the nature of things, made 
another division of Lancaster inevitable. 

Prescott knew nature as he knew men. He studied her laws, and informed himself 
of her forces. To his penetrating eye, the restless stream that flowed from the forest 
slopes through the verdant meadows — the brook that we know as "South Meadow," — 
was sometiiing more than the waterway of an idle valley. In it, he saw the untamed 
energy that made the mill, turned the wheel, and founded the town. This brook, rising 
in the wooded hills to the west, gathering in volume as it ran its course, generating power 
as it made its waj', settled the charactei- and fixed the destiny of this section. Prescott 
appreciated this great gift of nature, and made it his willing servant. The part played 
by this little waterwaj' in making history has no parallel in the annals of the town through 
which it flowed. It gave Clinton industrial life, and has been a mighty agency in pro- 
moting its development. 

Not long after building the grist-mill, with his wonted energy, Prescott erected a saw- 
mill, locating it not far from the present site of the Bigelow Carpet Company's dam. The 
two mills were the only ones of any kind in this region, and were the precursors of the 
mighty industries that now stand upon their sites. 

At the time of which I speak, there were few habitations of any kind in this locality, 
certainly none that could be called a house, in the modern acceptation of the term. The 
dwellings of that day were of logs — indeed, Prescott's own house was constructed of 
this material. It was known as "The Garrison," and was fortified by flankers and palis- 
ades against attack by the savage tribes, whose frequent incursions kept its inmates in 
constant danger, and called for the constant exercise of the prowess and daring for which 
Prescott was noted. It was located on the east side of High Street, on the "Old Otterson 
Place," so-called, near the site of a new^ building now being erected, and was yesterday 
marked by a tablet. Then, there were no roads in this region, and the patrons of the 
saw-mill and grist-mill from far-away Sudbury, even from the heart of Middlesex, made 
their journey thither over narrow and circuitous paths, attended with many risks and 
dangers. The patronage which the mills attracted increased to such an extent that a 
highway became a primal necessity. Public action was thereupon taken, and the 
thoroughfare now known as Main Street, from South Lancaster to Water Street, was laid 
out. It was said by the ancients, "All roads lead to Rome;" with equal truth it might be 
added ihat, at one time, all roads led to Prescott's mills. 

But this little community was not destined to long enjoy the advantages which the 
skill and energy of its founder had provided. A general Indian uprising occurred. The 
little garrison — the Prescott house — was furiously assailed, but was stoutly and success- 
fully defended by its gallant inmates. Though succeeding in saving his home, Prescott 
witnessed the destruction of the mills, which were fired by the savages and reduced to 
ashes. All the families that escaped the massacre which followed betook themselves to 
the coast towns for protection. With them went Prescott, leaving behind nothing but 

130 



Historical Address. 




SOUTHERN PORTION OF LANCASTER, 1795. 



Scale, 250 rods to the inch. The survey for this map was made "in obedience to an order of the General Court, dated June 26, 
1794." The original has been altered only in size and in the lettering of the name. The physical geography of the map is incom- 
plete, and in some cases, of questionable accuracy. The roads leading north, south, east and west from Prescott's Mills, as given in 
the map of 1S30, page 133, were in existence in 1795, although omitted from this map. For convenience in reading names, the 
southern part of the map is placed uppermost as in the original. 



Historical Address. 

junk and foundation-stones to mark the scenes of liis ambitions and the sites of his 
blasted hopes. A few years later, he returned and rebuilt the mills near their original 
locations. 

This closes the first chapter in the storj- of Clinton's industrial life. 

The period that followed the return of Prescott, while full of interesting events, dis- 
closed nothing of importance so pertinent to Clinton's history as to call for special men- 
tion. The years rolled into decades, and decades into centuries, before the settlement 
showed new life, or took on unwonted activities. 

It must be that the observant eye of Prescott had discovered in the Nashua valley 
the natural conditions that would furnish a series of valuable water privileges; but while 
we find records of conveyances of lands in that valley to his descendants, no evidence is 
discovered of anj- attempt on the part of that family, so distinguished as millwrights, to 
develop these possibilities. The possessions and privileges of which I speak passed from 
John Prescott, 5th, and, through several successors in title, became in 1810 the propert}' 
of James Pitts. It may be of local interest to know that the house in which he made his 
home upon taking possession of this estate is now known as No. i Chestnnt Street, and 
is a familiar structure to the eyes of the present generation. 

Elias Sawyer, as tradition tells, began the construction of a dam on the premises 
subsequently bought by Mr. Pitts, which he never finished. It was, however, rebuilt and 
completed on new lines by the latter, and a saw and a grist-mill were erected below it, 
where operations were begun in 1S16. These were converted, in 1820, into cotton-yarn 
mills. They stood upon the land now occupied by the Lancaster Mills, and were the fore- 
runners of that splendid industry. 

In 1809, the lands and privileges of the first Prescotts, north of Water Street, passed 
by purchase into the hands of Poignand & Plant. This purchase overshadowed in impor- 
tance and consequence any event that had taken place in this district since the founding 
of the original mills. The new owners were men of ability and experience. One was an 
erudite Frenchman, and the other a cultivated Englishman. They brought to their new 
home a refinement and culture that made a profound impression upon their plain and 
simple neighbors. 

In 1810, they began the erection of a brick mill fifty-seven feet by thirty-eight and 
one-half feet, three stories in height. This, one of the most historical of the landmarks 
of Clinton, constituted the western end of the yarn mills that stood upon that site until 
their recent reconstruction. This enterprise aroused the greatest activity and enthusiasm. 
It was the most successful of its kind in Massachusetts, and Poignand & Plant are undoubt- 
edly entitled to the credit of being among the first to spin )-arn and make cloth under one 
roof, by the factory system. 

Time and its vicissitudes, it is sad to relate, brought adversity to the firm, and busi- 
ness troubles, followed by the death of Poignand, caused this plant to pass into the hands 
of strangers. This firm, one member wealthy, the other experienced, attracted the atten- 
tion of the adventurous capital which subsequently built the great industries of the town. 

In tracing the industrial life of the town, it would be a flagrant oversight to pass by 
in silence the contribution made to its prosperity by the early comb-makers. Like many 
of those who added to the rise and progress of Clinton, they came here strangers, but 
brought with them willing hearts and hardy hands. This industry, established by the 
Lowes and the Burdetts, prosecuted by the Gibbses and McCoUums, attained the acme of 
its success under the management of the Harrises, father and son. The business was first 
carried on, rather as a family venture, in the little shops adjoining the homes of its 

132 



Historical Address. 

promoters. Subsequently, factories were erected, and the territory along Rigby Brook, 
east of Main Street, became dotted with the little red shops that marked its growth until 
they were swallowed up in the devouring waters t-hat burst their borders at Mossy Pond 







<m^ 

^•^^9/ 



It.-"-'"'.. 






S OYLSrOA/^ 






SOUTHERN PORTION OF LANCASTER, 1S30. 

Copied from map of James G. Carter published in 1831. The surveys were made by Jacob Fisher, Esq., in 1830. 

Scale, 150 rods to tlie inch. 

133 



Historical Address. 

on that fateful day in 1876, and in their wild and resistless course carried destruction to 
factory and fireside. 

The Harrises were to the manor born, and prosecuted their industry at one time in 
the brick house and adjacent buildings at the foot of Prescott Street. Enterprise and 
energy broke these narrow limits and brought them down to the river where the Harris 
mills now stand. There the}' bnilt the largest factory and carried on the largest business 
of its kind, in the country. Their thrift and ability were justl)' rewardeil with one of the 
largest fortunes made within these limits. The comb-shop has disappeared, but the influ- 
ence of its founders remains. Their memory will be held in grateful recollection. 

No biographical sketch of Clinton could be written without giving the greatest prom- 
inence to the men who, beyond all others, brought to its development the splendid gifts 
of head and heart of the Bigelow brothers. Erastus B. was undoubtedly the greatest 
inventive genius of his time. No mechanical requirement was so complex as to overtax 
the infinite variety of his resources. By mechanical device, he made the weaving by 
power of the counterpane, with its raised figures, as practicable as, by the same means, 
he made it possible to make the ornamental coachlace upon the loom. It was his great 
mind that first conceived the mechanism that, with taste and intelligence almost human, 
produced the Brussels carpet. It was his, likewise, to devise, with marvelous ingenuity, 
the loom that made the Lancaster gingham, in all the variety of its coloring. This staple 
made Clinton the center of that industry for upwards of a generation. A splendid sup- 
plement to his great work in the development of this town was the invention of the wire 
loom, which stroke, like that of the magic wand, produced the wire mills, one of the 
mightiest industries of the times. 

Next to his marvelous mind, the greatest of the fortunes bestowed upon Erastus B. 
Bigelow was his talented brother, Horatio N. The day the two brothers walked together 
on the banks of the Nashua, prospecting for a site for the new enterprise being formulated 
in the mind of the great inventor, was a day pregnant with fate for the little village that 
since has expanded into Clinton. The streams and waterfalls that have been the boon 
and blessing of the town, settled the matter in its favor. The brothers determined to 
build, and the Lancaster Mills, then only a conceit of the brain, sprang into a visible and 
practical reality. 

Horatio N. Bigelow was essentially a man of affairs. He combined the faculty of 
organization with a strong power of execution. His mind was broad in its conceptions, 
and orderly in its methods. He was the successful manager of the various Clinton enter- 
prises that were born of his brother's inventions. While not a Clinton man by birth, he 
became such by adoption, and lavished upon his new home a wealth of patriotic love that 
found its expression in munificent gifts and the advocacy of every public improvement. 
The beautiful park which adorns the center of the town speaks, with charming eloquence, 
of his generosity. This was his gift to his towns-people, and under his devoted care it 
was laid out and improved. Time has added to its beauties and has multiplied its attrac- 
tions; but it has not staled the gratitude felt toward its liberal donor. To his foresight 
and his judgment we owe the regularity and spaciousness of our principal thoroughfares. 
To his interest in the welfare of Clintonians is largely due the Bigelow Free Public 
Library, an enduring monument to his worth and fame. 

The coming of the Bigelows and the success of their enterprises wrought not only 
stupendous industrial changes, but created new conditions, political and economic, out of 
which sprang the new town, the Clinton of our homes and our hopes. 

"Factory Village," as Clinton was called after the building of the cotton mills, had 

134 



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Historical Address. 

experienced no great change in population or enterprise during the twenty years preced- 
ing the coming of the Bigelovvs. At the time of their advent, its industries consisted of 
two cotton mills and about half a dozen comb shops, employing less than three score 
operatives. The entire population did not exceed three hundred souls, whose wants were 
supplied by two country stores. That portion of the population not engaged in the fac- 
tories and shops found employment on scattered farms, where they sought to woo a liveli- 
hood from an unwilling soil. The building of the Lancaster Mills in 1845 stimulated 
every energy and aroused every activity, and with a single bound the population leaped 
from three hundred to three thousand. The lethargic village had become a hive of indus- 
try, to whose service the native and the immigrant were alike invited. The population 
rapidly took on a cosmopolitan hue. In the shops and mills, above the humming of the 
spindle and the shooting of the shuttle, could be heard the commingling dialects of the 
Teuton, the Scot, the Briton and the Celt. 

In a few years, every social and industrial condition had completely changed. "Clin- 
tonville" ceased to have anything political in common with Lancaster. The yeomen of 
the mother town had no community of feeling or sentiment with the factory operatives. 
Largely natives of the soil which they tilled, contented in agricultural pursuits, conserva- 
tive in thought and action, the men of Lancaster did not readily appreciate the political 
necessities of the manufacturing district that had so suddenly sprung upon their vision. 
Differences as to appropriations — a prolific source of difference — divergent views as to 
what the public convenience required, inability to reach a common understanding on 
matters of public policy, increased and multiplied, until the citizens of both sections of 
the town appreciated the necessity of a separation. The men of Clintonville, realizing 
that "School District No. 10," as their section was then called, contained far more than 
half the population of the town, and much more than half its wealth, felt that a policy 
adapted to a farming people was not suitable for a flourishing and enterprising manufac- 
turing community. For these, and for other reasons not profitable to mention, there 
began in Clintonville, in 184S, an open agitation for separation and local self-government. 
Under an article in the warrant for a town-meeting held November 7, 1848, a committee 
was appointed to consider the subject. The majority reported in favor of separation; 
the minority reported adversely. Wise counsels, however, prevailed, a basis of separa- 
tion was fixed, and without opposition the town of Clinton was incorporated by an act of 
the legislature, approved by the governor March 14, 1850. Thus was given to Massachu- 
setts one of the fairest towns within its borders. 

Clinton started corporate life, according to the census of that year, with an enrollment 
of three thousand one hundred and eighteen, and the task of organizing a government 
and providing municipal equipment. It was without roads, bridges, public buildings or 
schools adequate to its imperative necessities. Its most apparent possession was an 
indebtedness to Lancaster of ten thousand dollars, the price of its independence. It was 
fortunate, however, that the men who conceived the plan of independent government, 
the promoters that brought the separation to a successful issue, had the energy and the 
ability requisite to solve the problems and deal with the difficulties confronting the new 
town. The success which crowned their efforts was immediate and remarkable. School- 
houses were built, a fire department created, a cemetery provided and an almshouse 
established with a rapidity which demonstrated the capacity and resources of the new 
municipality. A system of streets and sidewalks was early adopted, which were laid 
out on a plan that has done much to heighten natural attractions. New houses were 
being built in every direction to provide homes for the constantly increasing population; 

135 (10) 



Historical Address. 

business buildings sprang up in answer to the demands of trade and traffic. The church 
arose, and places of worship for all denominations followed the coming of their respec- 
tive adherents. 

Along such lines the new town grew and thrived, until the storm of civil strife threw 
its baneful shadow over its prospects. The youngest of the towns of the Commonwealth, 
one of the smallest in area and population, one of little experience and limited public 
opportunity, found itself at the breaking out of the Civil War, confronted with the great- 
est public duty that can fall upon any community. The integrity of the Union was at 
stake. The patriotism of hamlet, village and town was sorely taxed. But Clinton, 
though young in years and poor in resources, made a splendid contribution to the cause 
of human liberty and the preservation of freedom's institutions. In the early days of the 
war. Company C, with martial stride and flying banners, marched to the front and made 
an enviable record in the camp and on the battlefield, the memory of which, and of the 
gallant men who followed them to the field, is perpetuated in the enduring granite and 
heroic brass which ornament our greatest public building. 

The depression consequent upon the war retarded the growth of the town and checked 
its development. The dawn of peace, however, revived our languishing industries, and 
Clinton once more experienced the vivifying influence of old opportunities and new pos- 
sibilities. The waters of the Nashua, flowing down from the exuding hills, seemed to 
carry a greater force and whisper to the industries on its banks the wisdom of renewed 
afforts and increased energy. The Lancaster Mills, always in the forefront of enterprises, 
added to its plant, and seemed to grow with the days and the weeks. The Bigelow Car- 
pet Company seemed to heed the suggestion of its faithful brook, the "South Meadow," 
and increased and multiplied its output. The Wire Mill and the other shops and factories 
seemed to follow the inspiration ot the older industries, and increased their activities and 
products. 

Under these happy conditions, the Town Hall, a splendid municipal monument, was 
built. The liberality that provided for it is one of the greatest tributes that can be paid 
to the pride and public spirit of the town. Business blocks of modern architecture and 
stately proportion seemed to rise on the foundations of old and antiquated structures. 
The tenement house of the corporation gave way to the modest and comely home of the 
employee. The residence of the business man put on a new pretention. The churches 
raised loftier spires, and the schools presented more imposing fronts. Everything indi- 
cated the prosperity that was made manifest by increasing population and accumulating 
wealth. 

But one untoward occurrence blighted this picture, the breaking away of Mossy 
Pond, on that memorable Sunday afternoon twenty-four years ago, when its destructive 
flood devastated the valley from its outlet to its confluence with the Nashua. This dis- 
aster was survived and soon forgotten, and despite the misfortune, the town continued to 
grow until it reached its present splendid proportions. Its wealth has accumulated; its 
population has increased; its social, industrial and political importance has magnified. 
New streets and commodious sidewalks are being constantly built; a system of water- 
works, perfect in every equipment, furnishing by gravity the sweetest and purest of water, 
is one of the town's chief possessions. A sewer system, ample and generous, pro- 
vides unexcelled sanitary accommodations. Electric lights, generously and judiciously 
located, illuminate the town with an effulgence that would dazzle the eyes of its founders. 
A fire department of thorough efficiency and capacity guarantees protection to person 
and property against conflagration. A public park of spacious proportions, variegated 

136 




v> 







HORATIO NELSON BIGELOW. 



ERASTUS BRIGHAM BIGELOW. 




TOWN HALL, CLINTON 



Historical Address. 

flowers and luxurious shrubbery, with all attractions that art and nature can offer, invites 
the citizen to peace and recreation. A high school of imposing architecture, a grammar 
school of impressive appearance, a series of school buildings attractive in every feature 
and appointment, are the proof and promise of the broad and liberal education which the 
town offers to its children. 

But time does not permit of further expatiation upon the beauty of the town or the 
attraction it offers to the stranger or the citizen. Its growth has been uniform; its gov- 
ernment has been orderly and methodical; its business methods are clean and honorable; 
its social life is pure and healthy. Varied by hill and dale, its natural charms are unsur- 
passed. Its beauties are enhanced by babbling brooks, and its scenery made picturesque 
by the busy river that divides its hills. 

This is the Clinton of today — the Clinton that the fathers loved, the town that their 
children cherish. The heritage which the sons have enjoyed should be transmitted unim- 
paired, with all its possibilities and opportunities. No effort should be spared and every 
energy should be bent to make the future as attractive as the past. The foundations are 
broadl)' laid, and the superstructure should be continued in generous proportions. The 
industrious hands which built the factory and the mill have not lost their cunning; the 
intelligent heads that controlled their operations have not lost their capacity. The capa- 
ble merchant, who successfully guided his business affairs, has not lost his shrewdness. 
All these are but the forerunners of others who will take their places, and who will work 
their part in the destiny of a town possessed of every gift that nature can bestow, and 
every advantage that man can provide. The past is secure in its splendid accomplish- 
ments. The future invites all to lofty effort and noble achievement. It will be the 
ambition of Clinton's worthy sons to emulate the virtues of the fathers in their enterprise 
and in their selfless devotion to the public interest, the ambition of each being to surpass 
his neighbor in protecting the institutions whose blessings he has enjoyed, and to trans- 
mit, without stain or impairment, the heritage with which he has been blessed. 

No Clintonian would do justice to this occasion who failed to congratulate his towns- 
men upon the presence of so many of the fathers of his town. The gratification we feel 
in congratulating them upon the consummation of their fondest hopes, is tinged with a 
single regret — the absence of many of their co-workers, the men who struggled with them 
in founding the municipality whose privileges have been a blessing to them and their 
children. To the founders who are with us, grateful appreciation is extended; to those 
who have passed away, reverential affection is pledged. It would be invidious, perhaps 
ungracious, to select names for special mention, when all deserve the highest praise and 
enconiums. I think I bespeak the sentiment of this people when I say our gratification 
would be complete if we could present to the founders who have gone to their just reward 
the beautiful town on the hills and in the valley, bisected by the stream they loved — the 
stream which created the great industries of the town they founded — the stream which 
brought into being the monuments of its growth and prosperity. 

I should disappoint another popular expectation, if I failed to call attention to the 
splendid part taken b)' Clinton in the Spanish War — a part that has brought lustre to its 
name and placed a laurel upon its brow. The boys who, in lusty youth and vigorous 
manhood, responded to duty's call and offered all that is dear in life in the service of 
their country, possess the enduring love and the lasting gratitude of their town. The 
page they have written in Clinton's history glistens with valiant deeds and heroic sacri- 
fices. For what they did and what they suffered Clinton will cherish Company C and 

137 



Remarks by Charles T. Tatman. 

Company K with the sentiment of the Roman mother, who, with maternal pride, pointed 
to her children, saying, "These are my jewels." 

To the venerable founders of the town, to the soldiers and sailors who fought and 
died in its name, to the children who have distinguished it by their works and honored it 
by their virtues, Clinton gives its benediction — the Clinton that filled the conception of 
the poet, who sang: 

"A bright, cosy town of valleys and hills. 
All thriving with school-houses, churches and mills; 
Where green drooping branches arch over the street, 
And industry shines on the faces you meet; 
Where houses are homes, where childhood is gay. 
And Order and Honesty ever hold sway."* 

* It is interesting to note that the lines with which the address concluded, although they have not been 
previously acknowledged, were written by Ellen K. Stevens, the odist of the day. 



REMARKS BY CHARLES T. TATMAN. 



Member of General Court of Massachusetts. 



Mr. Chairman^ Ladies and Gentlemen: 

As I am only a substitute* for a substitute for the gentleman who was expected to 
address you, I am sure )'ou will be glad if I make my remarks brief, which I purpose 
doing. 

The Commonwealth greets Clinton and congratulates her upon this the fiftieth anni- 
versary of her incorporation. Massachusetts is proud of Clinton, the busiest and thriftiest 
town within her borders. 

When the thirsty thousands in the eastern half of the state cried out for relief, the 
Commonwealth smote the rocky hills of Worcester County, and there gushed forth the 
streams of pure water which were the natural inheritance of Clinton and the other towns, 
but which they gave up willingly and generously to the cities and towns of the Metro- 
politan district. And when Clinton raises her voice in behalf of the majesty of the law, 
Massachusetts is not deaf. When Clinton points out the prostrate form of helpless labor, 
Massachusetts is not blind. The conscience of the state responds quickly to feelings of 
truth and righteousness. And the message from the state today is that justice shall be 
done. 

God bless Clinton, and God save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ! 

* Mr. Tatman was asked only a few minutes before the exercises began, to speak in behalf of the 
State, as the gentleman who was expected to speak was unavoidably detained, 

138 



JOHN PRESCOTT, THE PIONEER. 

ANDREW E. FORD. 

Three centuries ago the morning light, 
As it arose from VVataquadock's height, 
Shone o'er a charming valley, lone and still. 
Where now are many towns with noisy mill 
And busy farm and thickly crowded mart. 
And nature is controlled b)- human art. 

To northward far Monadnock, faintly seen, 

A hazy blue across the forests green. 

To westward calm Wachusett, stern and grand, 

A fitting guardian of a promised land. 

To southward, lower hills close in the view, 

By morning touched with ever shifting hue. 

Upon the eastern foot-hills rose a stream 

Which sought the Assabet with rippling gleam, 

But elsewhere through the valley, hill and glade, 

Their sparkling tribute to the Nashua paid. 

The South Branch, born from Quinnepoxet Brook, 

Its winding course through rugged uplands took, 

Until it reached the spot where now its tide 

Is forced within the rocky hills to hide. 

It then, the plain in eager rapids gained. 

A place of ease where peace and quiet reigned. 

Henceforth, it flowed through open intervale. 

Where grew the graceful elm and poplar pale 

Or gnarled beech leaned o'er the waters edge 

Or sycamore rose ghost-like from the sedge. 

From western tree-clad slopes and gem-like lakes, 

The streamlets came through swamps and tangled brakes, 

And thus throughout the valley's wide extent, 

Where'er the river or its branches went. 

They fed the springs of life, gave beauty birth 

And changed to Paradise the thirsty earth. 

T'was then a wilderness, without an eye 

The wondrous charm of nature to descry. 

Primeval forest, where no foot had trod 

Save the fierce Indian's, heedless that his God 

Had spread before his sightless eyes a feast 

To feed a poet's soul, — less man than beast. 

Beside Washacum's shore, his wigwam stood. 

And thence his trails wound through the silent wood. 

In spring, he speared the salmon or the shad. 

Which leaped in river rapids. He was glad 

To chase the game, but he was gladder yet 

When with the Maqua's blood his hands were wet. 

139 



John Prescott, the Pioneer. 

The weak Algonquin feared his stronger foe 
Who oft had laid his stricken kinsmen low, 
And vengeance, seldom won, was dearly bought. 
Besides, the pestilence its havoc wrought, 
'Till all the tribe was wasted, worn and spent, 
Awaiting for their doom from Heaven sent. 

While they decayed, across the ocean brine 
A nobler race was formed by plan divine 
To use this vacant land for lofty ends; 
A race, that in its complex nature, blends 
All forces tending since the birth of time 
To raise humanity to heights sublime. 
Whoever sought for truth with sincere heart. 
He who created beauty through his art, 
He who for others gave himself in love, 
And he who saw through faith the One above. 
From all, that race its heritage received. 
And labors worthy of its lot achieved. 

E'en from that race, so blessed, a chosen seed 

Was picked in freedom's struggle, fit to lead 

To higher issues. Planted in a soil 

Untried and unexhausted, by their toil. 

Their patient faith and their unbending will. 

Fated to grow until the earth they fill 

With their own spirit ; make the world one state, 

With freedom, equal laws for small and great. 

You know the glory of our Pilgrim sires 

And how the Puritans their altar fires 

Enkindled ; how for home and common weal 

They prayed, they worked, they fought with holy zeal. 

Scarce twenty years had passed, since first they sought 
These wild New England shores, ere some had thought 
Their towns too crowded, wished unstinted lands 
And so pushed westward in brave little bands 
Along some winding, hidden Indian trail. 
To build new homes. The beauty of the vale 
Where flowed the Nashaway had oft been told. 
For daring traders had been there of old. 
Chief Sholan begged in fear the white men's aid 
Against the Maquas. Careful plans were laid 
To found a settlement. By Prescott led, 
A score of men the untamed forest thread. 
Construct the cabin, clear the future farm 
Cheered on by hope, but filled with deep alarm. 
Their logs they hew, their corn in mortars bray; 
The nearest mill is many miles away. 

140 




NASHUA RIVHR FROM HK,H BHllH.jt. 




NASHUA RIVHR SITE OF RESERVOIR. 



John Prescott, the Pioneer. 

But Prescott, wise, sagacious, such a man 

As old Ulysses, ready with his plan, 

From nature's power, energy divine, 

Drew force for human needs. 'Tis ever thine 

O man of genius, thus to realize dreams 

And use the strength, God pours in living streams, 

Through all the realm of matter and of mind, 

Awaiting will to seek, the eye to find. 

The art to use for comfort or to make 

Our life more pure, to higher purpose wake. 

Just where you see today across the brook 
Our worsted mill, John Prescott power took 
To turn his mill-stone. There upon the lea, 
Our town was born in sixteen fifty-three; 
At birth so strong,— the story seems a jest, — 
She fed her mother from her infant breast. 
And now she has become so rich and great 
She satisfies the thirst of half the state. 
John Prescott's home upon the hill-slope rose 
Where still the level plots the place disclose. 
Some five years later, higher up the stream. 
He built a saw-mill, and he had a scheme 
For forging iron. His neighbors felt a need. 
He acted, and their will became his deed. 

The years passed on. Old age had set its seal 

On Prescott's brow, when there began to steal 

Upon the Indian tribes a bitter hate 

For those, who by the fixed decree of fate. 

Survival of the fittest, nature's law. 

Were gaining all their lands, and they foresaw 

That they must perish or drive out the race 

Which made their hunting grounds its dwelling place. 

In hordes, the Quabaug and the Nashaway 
Poured down on Lancaster. In wild dismay 
The people seek the block-house for defense 
And wait for succor there in deep suspense. 
Thev hear the war-whoop's sound, the demon yell, 
The musket roar, the shriek, the groans that tell 
Of final anguish, see the rolling blaze 
And smoke from burning homes and, sight to craze 
The strongest intellect, their loved ones slain 
By torture, while they pray for help in vain. 
And now the house itself is wrapped in fire ; 
Some, weak with wounds, within the flames expire. 
And some rush forth where fiendish Indians wait 
To send them to their death by direr fate. 

141 



John Pfescott, the Pioneer. 

The hellish work of fire and blood is done, 
The town destroyed, the savage triumph won. 

John Prescott waited for the death-crazed foe 

In his own dwelling. Waited for the blow 

Undaunted, trusting in his God to save. 

And God preserved him from the yawning grave; 

For soldiers came, the Indian hosts withdrew, 

And he was left, one of the stricken few 

For ruined hopes to mourn, the dead to grieve. 

The last sad rites to pay, and then to leave 

His home, his town to desolation drear 

And live apart from all he held most dear. 

A spark that age and exile could not quench 

Still lived within his soul. He dared to clench 

With fate and meet the issue. He returned, 

Led back his townsmen. Where their homes were burned 

They build anew, their ruthless foe defied, 

And here, still striving, old John Prescott died. 

But, nay, immortal vigors filled his soul, 
He could not die, but while the ages roll, 
He still must struggle, struggle without rest, 
His one delight, the satisfying zest 
Of conflict, progress for himself and all 
Whose needs for his untiring labors call. 

He did not die, his soul went with his blood. 

In his descendants fired the ruddy flood. 

When England tried by means of unjust laws 

To bind the colonies, the patriot cause 

Found few more eager to maintain the right, 

Either in council or by test of fight, 

Than Prescotts, Sawyers, Dunsmoor, offspring all 

Of him, whom nothing human could appal. 

In stern resolves, which rang throughout the land 

They called for justice, firmly took their stand 

For freedom, boldly gathered men and arms, 

And swiftly answered to the first alarms. 

Just after Concord, by a Prescott led, 

Our eager troop of horse to Cambridge sped. 

All through the war until the dawn of peace 

Our village, through his offspring, did not cease 

To strive by sacrifice, in word and act. 

To make our libert)' established fact. 

Not only here, but elsewhere, there were found 

Brave men of Prescott's blood. Their names resound 

Where'er the tale of liberty is heard 

Or hearts by noble deeds are deeply stirred. 

142 



John Prescott, the Pioneer. 

Who was it led the troops at Bunker Hill? 
'Twas William Prescott, man of stubborn will. 
When General Gage, exulting in his might, 
Asked of his Tory friend: "Will Prescott fight?" 
Abijah Willard, as the stories tell. 
Replied : " He'll fight you to the gates of hell ! " 
He fought so well, 'till he was forced to pause. 
That though he lost the day, he saved the cause. 

And who today stands forth amid the throng 

Of venal demagogues arch foe of wrong? 

Who is this modern Cato, pure and stern. 

This unmoved star, round which all others turn? 

It is our senator, from Prescott sprung. 

Whose spirit warns our nation through Hoar's tongue. 

He must not die; His spirit ever lives 

In all who follow him. Today it gives 

To Clinton zeal for action, love of deeds. 

Which holds a noble life above all creeds. 

It gives us hope and dissipates the gloom 

With which the pessimists our town entomb. 

E'en now, perchance, from out some higher sphere, 

He looks in joy upon his fruitage here, — 

And calls : "If ye be men, our town will rise 

To height o'er height; but if your courage dies, 

Then nobler men shall dare, where you have quailed, 

The golden prize shall win, where you have failed. 

Away with feeble will and sickly moan ! 

Go on ! go on ! the future is your own." 

Today we strew our flowers on thy grave, 

O, Prescott, much enduring, stalwart, brave ! 

Thou man of shrewd device and common sense, 

Of purpose fixed and force of will intense; 

Thou pioneer by nature, leader born, 

Who scattered darkness, ushered in the morn; 

Thou citizen ideal, whose constant aim 

Was public good; thou heart with love aflame. 

As long as rivers to the ocean flow. 

Thy name our Prescott shall in honor grow. 



143 



ORATION. 

THE TOWN-MEETING AND OUR NATIONAL LIFE. 

HON. MERRILL E. GATES, LL.D., L. H. D., EX-PRESIDENT OF RUTGERS COLLEGE AND OF 

AMHERST COLLEGE. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, Citizens of Clinton: 

One who listens today to your historians must feel that your town has been singu- 
larly fortunate in its past. All who saw the civic parade reviewed by the Governor of our 
Commonwealth in your streets this morning, must congratulate you not only upon those 
great leading manufactures which have carried the names of Clinton and Lancaster around 
the world, but also upon that local pride in the varied local manufactures and occupations 
of your town which was so manifest and so interesting as the long parade filed past us. 
To a friend on the reviewing platform near me, I expressed the wish, as the procession 
passed, that it could be seen in all its features in those towns and districts in our South- 
land which are just awakening to the value of varied manufacturing interests, and are just 
beginning to understand the possibilities of their own surroundings in the midst of cotton, 
coal, water-power and cheap labor. In the exhibits of such a day as this, and not in mili- 
tary parades, one sees the secret of the strength of New England in our national life. 
And your schools and your public library prove that the secret of your success is found 
in busiest activity that recognizes the value of intelligence and education. 

Indeed, when historians and poets have recounted your local history, interpreted 
your local traditions, and given utterance to )'Our local ambitions and your grounds for 
local pride, one cannot resist the feeling that you have been exceptionally favored by 
nature. If you had been a town in the life of ancient Greece, it would have been said of 
you: "The local divinities have favored you." Your poet tells us that the presiding 
genius of the streams marked out for you the situation of your earliest homes and your 
first manufactures. According to the veracious historian of this afternoon, the streams 
themselves gave warning of impending disasters, and by their own voices and their chang- 
ing courses directed the location of your mills and factories. " Favored of the river-gods" 
would have been the Greek phrase for your marked and continuing good fortune as a 
community on the banks of abundant downward-rushing streams. And translated into 
modern ideas and nineteenth-century language, that means that you have taken full 
advantage of a favoring environment. God in nature gave you favorable surroundings; 
and as you took advantage of these surroundings by steady enterprise and patient effort, 
He made you feel the truth that "God helps those who help themselves." 

Let no such town as yours, which has enjoyed the ample opportunities and the con- 
tinued security which are afforded to all who are under the protection of our American 
institutions and our government and laws, ever fail to ascribe to our form of government, 
to our inherited institutions, much of the prosperity which the town has known. And 
the constant recurrence of sentiments of patriotism in the words of all who have addressed 
you, as well as the omnipresence of the flag we love in all your decorations, attests your 
loyalty, and your appreciation of the debt of love and gratitude which the town owes to 
the central government — to our Country. 

I want to speak to you of the debt which our central government, our whole country, 
and the world, owes to the town — to that self-governing political unit, the old New Eng- 
land town — and to the distinctively New England institution, the town-meeting. 

144 



Oration. 

When that distinguished man of letters and man of affairs, Mr. John Morley, visited 
the United States, thirty years ago, in commenting upon our pubh'c school system he 
said: "I could not help noticing that the history classes of their public schools all began 
their work with the year 1776. The teaching assumed that the creation of the universe 
occurred at about that date!" Whether or not this criticism was deserved at that time, it 
would not now be just. Our school children have become familiar with the thought that the 
roots of our life strike back into the history of Europe. We no longer boast of our form 
of government as an entirely new idea — as in all its features a product of our soil. We 
know that the roots of our common law, and many of our political customs and institu- 
tions, are to be found in England. But perhaps many who admire the New England 
town-meeting and think of it as the most distinctively American institution for the per- 
petuation of democratic forms in local self-government, do not remember how the cus- 
toms which are retained in our town administration, the names and functions of our town 
officers, and even the time of year at which these " spring town-meetings " are held, prove 
our indebtedness to other lands and other centuries. 

Talk of our youthful Republic and our new system of local self-government! Why, 
in the loins of its father, the town-meeting, our system of government was thriving while 
Athens was still the leader in arts and eloquence, and before Rome had reached the acme 
of her political power! Our town pound-master holds an office that is older than any 
monarchy in Europe! Even that humblest town officer, the " hog-reeve," has a name 
that reminds us of the days when herds of swine fed on the mast of the primeval forests, 
were so numerous that every German, every English town as a matter of course chose an 
officer to supervise the care of these herds of hogs. Hog-reeves were stationed at the 
doors of cathedrals during the hours of service, to prevent the intrusion of these omniv- 
erous and omnipresent quadrupeds; and Edgar the Saxon, only a century before the Nor- 
man Conquest, was obliged to proclaim a law that no animal of this species should be 
allowed to enter a church "if it could possibly be prevented-" 

When Rome's great historian, Tacitus, saw Rome's future conquerors, the Germans, 
in the first century of our era, he said of them, "they live apart, each by himself, as wood- 
side, plain or fresh spring attracts him." It seems a picture of our New England farm- 
ing settlements; and our New England village "common " is a sign-patent of our direct 
descent from the German villagers whom Tacitus saw, and described as gathered into 
communities more or less compact, but always small, "enjoying their lands according to 
some system of common ownership which left the chief pastures and the principal water 
supply open to use by all, and reserved only the arable land to separate use by individu- 
als" — a separate use which individuals enjoyed, however, subject to the control of the 
community. The old by-laws and town votes of our earlier settled towns in central and 
western Massachusetts (e.g.. Old Hadley), fi.xing the date in the spring at which cattle 
must be shut out from the common, the day after which the common must be reserved 
as a meadow for the common crop of hay, and the day in the autumn after which it might 
be used again as a common pasture in which each villager was entitled to definite and 
limited rights, remind us of the original significance of our New England village-greens. 

In the study of the phenomena of social life, we have learned much within the last 
thirty years through the marvelous development of biology under the guidance of the 
theory of evolution. No one of us who are old enough to remember the first appearance 
of Darwin's books upon the Origin of Species and the Descent of Man, can forget the 
feeling of surprise and indignant annoyance with which we first read the array of evidence 
which is marshalled about that little "tucked-in point" at the upper part of the human 

145 



Oration. 

ear! Placed where he placed it in his argument, in line with other well-marshalled facts, 
it was impossible to ignore the lesson which that evidence seemed to teach. Unless our 
early ancestors' bodies had been close akin to the bodies of animals that have erect and 
pointed ears, why that little infolded remnant? And as we study in social and political 
institutions our relation to civilized generations or tribes of men, we have learned from 
bioloo-y two great lessons : First, we are not ashamed of our humbler relatives; we 
do not seek to dissociate our town institutions from all earlier forms of social and politi- 
cal life. The idea that nothing can be valuable in our American political life unless it is 
"new," and that nothing is to be treasured unless it is "original," is the mark of the piti- 
fully superficial, the painfully self-conscious mind. We have learned not to ignore our 
kinship with less fully developed races and nations. And, second, we have learned from 
the methods of biological study, that we must judge a growing organism not by what it 
is at the moment of observation, but by what it is to become, as its growth goes forward. 
We have learned to see the man potentially present in the growing boy. 

And above all, from biology we have learned the importance of the germ-cell and 
the wonderful capacity for growth into new forms which lies infolded in the early stages 
of an apparently simple organism which has in it life-power and the possibility of devel- 
opment. Such a political germ-cell was the town-meeting. 

In the study of political science, and of the history of human institutions (and who 
that knows the joy of study can fail to reckon this among the highest objects of human 
research — the study most fruitful of good for the future of the race?), we are learning that 
nothing is of today alone, that all our institutions are rooted in the past. The roots of 
our life strike back into the history of Europe. Evident as are the peculiarities of devel- 
opment, political and social, which mark our American life, we have learned that in order 
to know our own national life thoroughly, we must know more of the old customs and 
laws of England, and of the Teutonic races on the continent of Europe. We have out- 
grown that provincialism in time-relations which regarded our nation's first century as a 
period of time quite by itself, unrelated to any social or political past. We no longer 
look upon our American political system as entirely self-originated, autochthonous, aris- 
ing by special creative act from the soil of our new continent, without debt to the past or 
responsibility for the future. We have come to understand that the social germ-cell from 
which have been developed the representative democracies of the modern world, is the 
town-meeting of farming communities, with its historic roots running back to England, 
and to the village community of Germany. Something of the local interest and some- 
thing of the national importance of the town-meeting, especially as it has been developed 
in the western part of your state of Massachusetts and in the Connecticut valley to which 
western Massachusetts belongs, we wish to consider together this afternoon. 

We are not so far in time from some of these peculiar local customs as to put them 
beyond the memory of men still living among us. When each New England town had 
its public stocks where men were fastened by the ankles and exposed for petty misde- 
meanors, and its wooden open-work cage upon a platform in the common, in which the 
prisoner was locked while exposed to the public gaze and to public disgrace, it was nat- 
ural that the man who had been seen in the town-cage should be known as a "jail-bird." 
In Northampton fifteen years ago (and for aught I know it may still be the case), tithing- 
men were annually elected. While I was a citizen of Massachusetts, I daily met men 
who have told me that they remember distinctly the reign of the tithing-men in the differ- 
ent churches of the town where they resided. Some of you remember the last tithing- 
man in the churches when you were children, with his imperious rap upon the pew, and 

146 










BIGEL"' 



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Oration. 

the grim gesture with which he pointed out the offending boy whose restlessness called 
out the rt'proof. These tithing-men are first cousins of the constable; and it is a mistake 
to suppose that they take their name from their imagined duty of collecting tithes for the 
parish church, in England. Their name comes to us from the time when our ancestors in 
the Saxon English town had as. their primary political organization, a group of ten neigh- 
boring families over whom this "tenth man," or tithing-man, had certain duties of admin- 
istration, and exercised the powers of the pett)' constable in matters judicial and political 
as well as ecclesiastical. 

"Hay-wardens" are still elected in many New England towns. They are survivals of 
the local officers in the old German and English towns to whose numbers and to the 
importance of whose duties the English surname, Hayward, bears witness in so many fam- 
ilies. And the name of this old town officer leads us to the consideration of the nature 
and the organization of the early English and German tovvn, the lineal ancestor of our 
New England town with the annual spring town-meeting. 

The Haywards were not charged with the protection and distribution of the hay of 
the meadow land. They were wardens of the "hege," the hedge which surrounded the 
common lands of the settlers in the early town. This "hege" divided their allotments, 
too, when they began to hold land in separate tenure, as individuals. This word "hege," 
meaning first a hedge, and then the space inclosed by a hedge or wall, an inclosure, is 
honorably commemorated in the well-known Dutch capital, "The Hague," the inclosed 
town par excellence. Its German equivalent, the ancestor of our word town, is "zaun," 
which means a hedge; and it is the old German word for the town settlement, the village 
surrounded by its hedge or ditch, or by both. The hay-wardens, then, were the inspec- 
tors of these hedges or boundaries. They are referred to in the local records of every 
New England tovvn. We know them now, with restricted duties, as "fence viewers." 
They had the supervision of common lands, boundaries and fences, e. g.-^ in the records of 
Hatfield Side, on January 14, 1660, it was "agreed and voted at a side meeting, that there 
shall be a common fence made from Goodman Fellows to the landing-place, each man 
fencing the end of his lot and Isaac Graves to fence his part next to Goodman Bool's 
meadow lot — the rest to be done in common." 

This idea of the separation of the town from surrounding territory underlies the ety- 
mology of the word, town. Will you not be interested in considering for a moment the 
definitions, from the English point of view, of some of the words for smaller settlements 
which are often used by us with but vague ideas of the real distinction implied in the 
English use of the terms? The word town itself (Old English tiin, Anglo-Saxon tiui), 
means, first, an inclosure; then, an inclosed village or town. In English use, a hamlet is 
a collection of houses too small to have a parish church; a village has a parish church, 
but has no market (understand the force of the English "market," with its right to hold 
stated sales); a tmvn has both a market and a church or churches, but it is not, and has 
not been at anytime, the seat of a bishop; a borough is an incorporated town (also a town 
which sends members to parliament), which is not and has not been the seat of a bishop; 
a city in England may be, and in most cases is, much less populous than are many boroughs 
or towns; but without reference to size, an English city, technically, is an incorporated 
borough .or a town, whatever its population, which now is, or in the past has been, the 
seat of a bishop. 

So much for English nomenclature. In America, we use the word township more 
commonly to designate the territorial divisions of a county or a state. This is the'case 
particularly in those states where the town-meeting system is not fully developed. In 

147 



Oration. 

New England, and in those of the Western States which have followed most closely the 
New England town system, the expression, "the town," is used to denote the terri- 
tory of the town, but more commonly it means the people of the town regarded as a polit- 
ical unit. "The town will do" so and so. And before we speak of the special signifi- 
cance, in our political system, of our New England town-meeting, let us look at the his- 
torical development of the town-meeting from its beginning among the Germanic races. 

Remember always that the town-meeting in the early English village communities, 
and in the New England villages, meant the "sovereignty of the people." It is the 
peculiar glory of the town system as developed in Western Massachusetts and in Connec- 
ticut, that in their relations to the state, the)- have steadil)' emphasized the importance of 
representative government, and not merely the democratic and local sovereignty of iso- 
lated local units. Through the system of a legislature of two houses with equal repre- 
sentation for the several towns in one house, the Connecticut valley towns first struck out 
the great American idea of a strongly federal and centralized government which should 
still respect local feeling and guard local rights by the equal representation, in one of its 
legislative bodies, of political units whose population was far from equal. In the German 
settlements, two thousand years ago, we find the beginning of this popular local govern- 
ment, with a tendency toward representative government as the popular assembly grows 
too large for the practical consideration of local affairs. But the idea of equal represen- 
tation for local units of differing size did not prevail. 

Wherever men have lived together as reasonable beings, they have lived under some 
form of government. The greatest social and historic fact in the record of our race is the 
existence of the State — of society organized however rudely for the maintenance of jus- 
tice. The man who feels an interest in his fellow-men as individuals, or in the prospects 
of the race, sooner or later but inevitably is drawn to an interest in political science; for 
political science is the study of the nature, the origin, and the conduct of the State — of 
society organized to maintain and protect rights, and to enforce duties. If your interest 
begins with the biographies of distinguished men, you find at once that the individuals 
whose lives are of interest to you, must be set in an appropriate background in their own 
nation and their own generation. The influence which these men exerted over their fel- 
low-men is that which gives interest to their lives; and the study of that influence brings 
you at once into relation with the history of nations and of states. And while the terri- 
tory of different nations has undergone many and sweeping changes, and the conception 
of the state has passed through changes hardly less sweeping, the stable element in the 
idea of the state has always been, tlu ?)iai)ite>iance and enforcement of justice. "The state," 
says Cousin, " is justice established by a constitution" and in institutions. "The state," 
says Professor Burgess, "is a particular portion of mankind viewed as an organized unit." 
But no definition is better or more suggestive than is that of Aristotle, who wrote more 
than two thousand years ago (in book three, chapter nine, of his " Politics"), "The state 
is a society of people joining together, with their families and their children, to live nobly 
for the sake of a perfect and independent life." 

Two impressive figures loom up before our vision time after time, as we look back 
toward the earliest history of the state. "The King and the Popular Assembly are found 
side by side in a great number of the societies of mankind as they first show themselves 
on the threshold of civilization." They appear side by side, and in their work they are 
related to one another; yet are they sharply contrasted; and in the development of the 
state, one inevitably gains power at the expense of the other. Over against the king as 
political chief is the Popular Assembly as the ultimate depository of political power. 

14? 



Oration. 

The king as military leader stands over against the host — the men of his people 
regarded as the fighting force which he leads, but by whose willing support alone can vic- 
tories be won. The king as judge sits over against the people assembled in the great 
popular court for the administration of justice by a popular vote. 

"The assembly of the people seems to be older than the king," says Sir Henry Maine, 
the foremost student of early institutions. But there has always been difficulty in hold- 
ing the people up to their political duties in the Popular Assembly. Even in the walled 
towns, the compact city-states of Greece, you remember how painfully this difficult)- was 
felt. You recall the long rope drenched in vermillion dye with which the officers swept 
through the Agora at Athens, driving the mass of voters before them to the Popular 
Assembly, with the penalty of a fine for all those who lagged behind until the red rope 
touched them and left a stain upon their garments. This disinclination to take time for 
the discharge of one's political duties as a free man, has not disappeared. One of the 
first by-laws passed by the colonial settlers of Plymouth (\x.ed a fine of a shilling for 
absence from the town-meeting, and a fine of sixpence for the man who came late or left 
early. 

But notwithstanding this tendency to evade his political duties on the part of the 
freeman in towns and cities — a neglect which in our time has given us the terrible tyranny 
of "bosses" in our municipal government — the steady tendency in thickly settled com- 
munities was for the Popular Assembly to grow strong and the King to grow weak. From 
the fountains of mystery and awe, the greater authority of the kings must be constantly 
supplied if the Popular Assembly was to yield to the will and choice of one man. [E.g., 
the millions of Russia crowding to see the czar) and Sir Henry Maine suggests that awe 
and mystery were destroyed, these fountains were dried up by the familiarity with the 
person of the King, by that publicity of his life which was the natural consequence of 
his dwelling with the multitudes shut up in a town. 

On the other hand, in more thinly settled territories, the tendencj' was uniformly for 
the King to grow strong and the Popular Assembly to grow weak. The hardship of 
traveling long distances to the place of the Popular Assembly told constantly against a 
general attendance. History teaches us that democracies are converted into aristocra- 
cies, because only a few will attend to their political duties. And in our time, the great 
danger that threatens us in our land is that popular government will be converted, not 
into an aristocracy( which properly means government by "the best" ) but into a contempt- 
ible oligarcy, a government by a few, a government by the "machine" and the "boss" — 
because the free voters of our land will not take the trouble to discharge their political 
duties. 

But while "the primitive kings of communities confined within walls, like the old 
Athenian and old Roman kings, soon dropped out of sight, the more barbarous kings of 
the more sparsely settled communities spread over wider territories, kept traveling about" 
that at stated intervals they might see their subjects in every part of their realm and 
administer something of justice at all the little centers of population. No commercial 
traveler goes from village to village more incessantly than did King Henry H and King 
John of England in their administration of justice. Our "circuit courts" are traces of 
this systematic moving about of the king in circuitous route, to different centers of the 
realm, that he might hold court at each important point. And the kings who thus trav- 
eled about their realms for the administration of justice, outgrew in power the more sta- 
tionary kings, and assumed the functions of the popular assemblies whose courts of 
farmers would not take the trouble to assemble. One of the notable points secured by 

149 



Oration. 

Magna Charta from King John himself in 1215, was the concession that "the pleas shall 
no longer follow the king." Up to that time, the man who had a lawsuit had been com- 
pelled to follow the king about through the realm in order to get a day for the hearing 
of his suit. Between June 15, 1215 (when Magna Charta was so unwillingly signed by 
King John at Runnimede) and July 15, King John, as we know from laws and acts signed 
by him at different places, made his way over the whole of southern England and north 
as far as Oxford; but in that notable month the court of Common Pleas for England 
began to hold its sittings at Westminster, and there it continued to hold them for six 
hundred and fifty years. 

Our New England town-meeting has its roots in the Popular Assembly of a thinly 
settled country, but in an assembly that did not "confront a king." Time out of mind, 
among our Teutonic ancestors, men had governed themselves as families and small com- 
munities, before they were governed as nations. For our Germanic ancestors, from the 
time when they came into view in history, the village was the seat of political life. They 
scarcely knew a national organization except for war. Kingship was little more than an 
honorary title with them. The freemen of each community in times of peace directed 
their own affairs in absolute freedom in the village meeting. "A very fierce democratic 
temper seems to have held, in the politics of that rough time," says Woodrow Wilson, 
"and the hardy pirates," Angles, Saxons and Jutes who were invited (or who forced their 
way) into Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries, brought with them the hereditary ten- 
dency of the democratic town-meeting toward local self government. And they had 
known little of kingship! . 

The necessity of their position in Great Britain demanded military leaders with 
greater power than any village head-man could have, however, and they founded little 
Saxon kingdoms in England. There kingdoms were afterward gathered into one king- 
dom, in which royal power was real and pronounced. But by the hereditary instincts and 
the earlier training of these races, the administration of justice and of local government 
still proceeded as of old, from the meeting of the village freemen. 

These Teutonic ancestors of ours settled in England as groups of kinsmen. The old 
clannish ties led brethren, cousins and kin to settle near each other. The Wellings, tak- 
ing land together, had their own "tun," or hedged-in village, of Wellington; while the 
Harling family settled together in Harlington, and losing their "H" as they became gen- 
uine Englishmen, gave us our Arlington. The termination "ton," in such names, is simply 
town; and the final syllable, "by," in Rokeby, Northby, Rugby, etc., has the same signifi- 
cance. Our word by-law, meaning primarily a special law for a particular town, is from 
the same word. The Nuttings settling together formed the village or town of Notting- 
ham, the "hame" or home of the Nottings. But the tie of blood which at first bound 
together those who formed a common village community, was gradually replaced by the 
tie of contiguous land. Residence upon neighboring pieces of land, and the common 
use of certain portions of the land, now bound neighbor to neighbor. "The land 
was rather the sign or voucher for the freedom of its possessor, than the basis of his 
rights," says Stubbs. It is probable that with separate buildings and home lots like those 
of the New England farming town, there was also in every case a considerable portion of 
the wood-land, pasture-land and meadow which was left undivided. A belt of forest or 
waste land parted each town from its fellow villages; and all within this boundary, or 
"mark," was protected by a rough trench or fence. It is significant that one of the early 
laws of the colony of Massachusetts Bay declares that the boundary of Massachusetts 
towns shall be "a greate heape of stones or a trench of six foote long & two foote broade." 

150 



INDUSTRIES. 




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Oration. 

When grass began to grow fresh in the spring, the cattle and swine were shut out from 
the fenced-in common of meadow-land; and perhaps it was sub-divided into grass fields, 
one for each household in the village. When hay harvest was over, fences and divisions 
were thrown down again. The old votes in Hadley and Hatfield and other Massachu- 
setts towns, fixing the date in the spring at which cattle were to be shut off from the 
common — when it should become meadow-land — are proof of our kinship with these early 
Saxon towns of England. After the plough-land was allotted in equal shares, corn and 
grain-land, and fallow-land were assigned to the families of the freemen. And this 
plough-land was subject to fresh division as the number of claimants grew greater or less. 
The sovereignty of such a community resided in the body of freemen whose holdings lay 
around the hill or the sacred tree where from time to time the community met to deal 
out justice and to make its own laws. Here, new settlers were admitted to the freedom 
of the township; "by-laws," town-laws, were framed, and head-men ^and tithing-man were 
selected (our "selectmen") for its governance. In this town-meeting plough-lands and 
meadow lands were divided into shares, in due lot, by the villagers; and field and home- 
stead, when sold, passed bj^ transfer before witnesses, from man to man, by the symbolic 
delivery of a turf of sod cut from the soil. This custom of a symbolic delivery of pos- 
session, in the sale of land, crossed the Atlantic with our Massachusetts ancestors. In 
1695, in Salem, John Rock granted a homestead to his son Thomas before witnesses. As 
a part of the act of conveyancing, he took hold of a twig in the garden, saying, "Here, 
son Thomas, I do, before these two men, give you possession of this land by turffe and 
twigge." And in the primitive town-meeting the differences of opinion between farmer 
and farmer, the inevitable clash of claims, was settled according to the " customs" of the 
township as its elder-men stated them. And four men were chosen to go with the head 
man, or "elder-man," to the "Hundreds Court," or to war. 

Well might Montesquieu declare, one hundred and fifty years ago, in his epoch- 
marking book, "The Spirit of the Laws," that the origin of the English constitution was 
found in the forests of Germany. The families who settled in towns were grouped into 
" hundreds" in the Saxon kmgdoms of England, as they had been in Germany. At first 
it is probable that the Hundred was fixed by count and included precisely one hundred 
families who may have resided in several different and contiguous towns. Afterward, 
"Hundred" became the territorial sub-division of a "shire." This term is preserved for 
us in the territorial sub-divisions called "Hundreds," in Maryland, and in "Chiltern Hun- 
dreds," the name of an estate belonging to the crown of England, lying on a chain of 
chalk hills in Buckinghamshire. "The stewardship of Chiltern Hundreds" is a merely 
nominal office under the crown, with an annual salary of twenty shillings; and when a 
member of Parliament wishes to vacate his seat, instead of resigning (a process not pro- 
vided for in the English constitution), he applies for the " stewardship of the Chiltern 
Hundreds," and b)- accepting this ofiice under the crown he becomes disqualified as a 
member of Parliament unless his constituents re-elect him. 

The "hundred-moot" was the court in which at first the judges were the whole body 
of the freemen who lived within the hundred. The president of the court was elected 
and bore the title of thingman or "thungenus." Regular attendance upon this court 
proved burdensome for farmers, and it ceased to be a popular assembly and became rep- 
resentative. The parish priest, the reeve or elder-man (our city "aldermen" preserve the 
name), and four other men were sent to represent each town in the hundred-moot. Here 
we have the bcgiTining of that form of representative govermnent which now dominates 
the civilized world. Neither Greece nor Rome ever attained to the conception of a rep- 

151 (u) 



Oration. 

resentative democracy. The representative court is the prototype of that system of 
town-meetings and higher representative assemblies, which seemed to spring up sponta- 
neously under the new conditions of life in our New England colonies. 

And now, with an awakened sense of its far-reaching historic relations, we are ready 
to turn again to the consideration of the New England town-meeting in its effect upon 
our American national life. Hear what Bryce says of it: 

"The town-meeting has been the most practical school of self-government in any 
modern country." 

"Of the three or four types or systems of local government which I have described, 
that of the town or township with its popular primary assembly is admittedly the best. 
It is the cheapest and the most efficient; it is the most educative to the citizens who bear 
a part in it. The town-meeting has been not only the source, but the school of democ- 
racy." 

"It is the small organisms, the towns, that are most powerful and most highly vital- 
ized," in American life. 

"In adopting the township system of New England, the northwestern states have 
borrowed some of the attributes of the middle states county system. The middle states 
have developed the township into a higher vitality than it formerly possessed there. 
Some of the southern states are introducing the township and others are likely to follow 
as they advance in population and education." 

From an article by Edward Everett Hale on the town-meeting, let me read you a 
paragraph or two: 

"A town-meeting is a solemn matter for the day long, perhaps for two or three days. 
All business stops on that day. The General Court of Massachusetts itself adjourns for 
one or two days in March, so that its members may be present at the town-meetings of 
their towns." But "there is no power on earth which can say to a New England town 
that it must meet on this day or on that day. The town will meet when it chooses to." 
"In Massachusetts we do not dictate to our sovereign." (But our Massachusetts law 
says, "Annual meeting in February, March or April." These spring months are desig- 
nated because we follow the traditions of our Teutonic farming ancestors who in town 
meeting planned for the planting of the "common-land" at this time of the year.) 

"Whatever the day is, everybody comes. There is no decent boy over fourteen years 
old who would not be ashamed if he could not go to the town-meeting, to sit on the back 
benches, and hear Nahum Smith cross-question the 'squire or throw in his doubts about 
the sidewalk; or to join the applause at the discomfiture of the chairman of the school 
committee. There is no possible 'ring' where there is a town-meeting. There is not a 
'boss' in this world who has brass enough to stand the interrogatory of that grand jury 
when it is in session. When the selectmen have made their report about that business of 
crossways, what has been done and what has not been done, then Nahum Smith may rise, 
whoever he be, and put the fatal question, ''I should like to be informed why the select- 
men took the stone from the Red Hill quarry, and did not take it from the Crossroads 
quarry, which was nearer? ' If there is any cat beneath that meal, that cat will appear. 
The town-meeting opens all eyes and all ears, and we must all be ready to give an account 
of ourselves, of what we have done and what we have not done." 

Throughout the South, the county with its spacious and isolated plantations became 
the unit under the state; and the township system had no life. New York, New Jersey 
and Pennsylvania adopted certain features of the county system and attempted to incor- 
porate with the.m certain features of the town system. But the popularly democrati? 

152 



Oration. 

assembly of all voters of the town from once to three or four times in the year, for the 
electing of local of^cers, the imposition of all taxation for all local purposes and for the 
general direction of all local affairs of education, sanitation, etc., has never been fully 
developed in these middle states. In the states of the West and the Northwest, the influ- 
ence of the township system is to be clearly seen as predominant in certain states, that of 
the county system in certain other states. Ohio, Indiana and Iowa have no town-meet- 
ings. On the other hand, in Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, the town sys- 
tem has been strongly developed. The two tendencies are well illustrated in the history 
of Illinois. First settled in its southern part from the Southern States, Illinois at first fol- 
lowed their example and adopted the county system. But as settlers from New England 
poured into the center and the north of the state, they fought against the county system 
and advocated the New England town system. In the constitutional convention of 1848 
and again in 1870, they were successful in carrying a provision which permitted every 
county of Illinois to adopt a system of township organization, "whenever the majority of 
the legal voters of the county voting at any general election shall so determine." More 
than four-fifths of the one hundred and two counties of Illinois have adopted the town- 
ship system, and with the best results for the local government and the town and village 
institutions of the state. Among the states further west, Nebraska and the Dakotas have 
been strong advocates of the town system and in their local development have well illus- 
trated the advantage of this local unit of self-government. 

Throughout New England, the town was the political unit. The organization of the 
county has been little more than a formal judicial district for convenience in transacting 
the business of the courts. Between the town and the state, no organ of government has 
intervened. The three Massachusetts towns which emigrated westward to the Connecti- 
cut developed the town system to the full, and early established in the legislature of that 
state the system of a popular representative house and a smaller and more conservative 
house representing equally all towns, large or small. And it was chiefly through the influ- 
ence of Connecticut in the constitutional convention in 1787, that the township system of 
New England, at the critical point in the formation of our national government, gave 
decisive and permanent form to the government of the United States, and in the Senate, 
with its equal representation for great Virginia and little Rhode Island, stamped our sys- 
tem with" that combination of central authority with local self-government, which has 
made it the ideal of the civilized world in the political reforms of the last century. 

If the sole significance of the New England town-meeting lay in its effect upon the 
town itself, and in this alone, we should accord it much less of respect and love than it 
now commands. It is true that the New England town-meeting perpetuates the old Ger- 
manic idea of personal freedom as opposed to the Roman conception of universal domin- 
ion. It is true that the New England town-meeting dignifies local self-government and 
that "in the town-meeting of New England there is bred a stout spirit of self-sufficiency." 
(Thwaites.) But the richest fruitage of the town-meeting is found not in the rugged 
independence of the individual citizen and not in a churlish claim for self-sufficiency and 
independence on the part of a town, but in the cultivation of that political fitness for 
national life — for self-government upon a large scale — which has characterized the sons 
of New England within her own borders and in all the more western states which they 
have settled. Truly did De Tocqueville declare: "The doctrine of the sovereignty of 
the people came out of the townships and took possession of the states." The effect of 
the town system in New England upon the general government of the United States has 
been most marked- 

J53 



Oration. 

The ideal that led to the colonization of New England and the moral and religious 
qualities of the picked men who founded these commonwealths, have been so frequently 
and so justly the subject of eulogy that I purposely say nothing along this line today. 
But I want to call your especial attention to the fact that in the art of government, as in 
every other art, right method is of the greatest value. There came a crisis in the history 
of the effort to form from the thirteen colonies one nation — the United States of America. 
In the prolonged debates of the constitutional convention of 1787, the influence of the 
political ideals which had been developed in the New England town-meetings of the 
Connecticut River valley was decisive. The political ideals and methods shaped in these 
New England towns at that time fixed one of the most distinctive features of our federal 
system, and carried the constitutional convention out of the dead-lock which threatened 
to be fatal and into a course of development which has proved at once progressive and 
wisely conservative. 

You are too familiar with the history of the foundation of the Commonwealth of 
Connecticut to listen patiently were I to rehearse that history. Its essential point for us 
today lies in the fact that the town-meeting has found its fullest scope and its most pow- 
erful influence through the colonists from Massachusetts who settled in our Connecticut 
Valley. As Professor Alexander Johnston has said, it was a Massachusetts town system 
"let loose in the wilderness," that grew to be Connecticut! You remember that three 
fully organized Massachusetts towns and churches, with their pastors and with most of 
their town officers, transferred themselves bodily to the valley of the Connecticut, and 
outside the jurisdiction of any Commonwealth, proceeded to build up a Commonwealth 
of their own. The seal of the State of Connecticut bears the figure of three vines which 
represent these three towns; and above them a hand from the heavens displays the legend, 
"Sustinet Qui Transtulit:" " He who transplanted them will sustain them." The peculi- 
arity of Connecticut lies in the fact that the state was the product of these towns. The 
towns were not the creation of the Commonwealth. In Connecticut, the town is the nat- 
ural political unit. The towns are the residuary legatee of all the powers of government 
which are not expressly delegated to or conferred upon the Commonwealth. The con 
stitution of Connecticut, adopted by a popular convention of the freemen of these three 
towns in January, 1638, in its essential points remained in force until 1818. It was "the 
first written constitution (in the modern sense of the word constitution, as a permanent 
limitation of governmental power) known in history — the first written constitution, and 
certainly the first American constitution to embody the democratic idea. In the struggle 
that was going forward at Boston in that decade between the party of popular rights and 
the more exclusive and aristocratic party, the Massachusetts towns had found themselves 
persistently shut out from that participation in law-making which the Massachusetts Bay 
charter had promised them. In 1634, deputies from the towns, two from each town, had 
gone up to Boston to get a sight of the charter that they might vindicate for themselves, 
as representatives of the towns, the place and the power designed for them in the "Great 
and General Court." While this struggle for representation was pending in Massachu- 
setts, the three towns which emigrated to Connecticut seem to have carried with them 
the strongest advocates of popular representation in the legislative branch. Hooker's 
letter to Winthrop contains the clearest and most definite statement of this theory which 
I have seen from the pen of any man of that time. 

Cotton had said of the early Massachusetts system — and Cotton was the spokesman 
of the dominant class in Massachusetts — "Democracy, I never did conceive that God did 
ever ordain, either for Church or for Commonwealth." Hooker says, in his letter to 

154 




RESIDENCE OF CHARLES SWINSCOE. 




ESTATE OF JOHN R. FOSTER. 



Oration. 

Wiiitlirop, " In matters of greater consequence, which concern tlie common good, a gen- 
eral council chosen by all to transact business which concerns all, I conceive, under lavor, 
most suitable to rule and most safe for relief of the whole." 

The inhabitants and residents of Windsor, Hartford and Wcthersficld established a 
constitution which, neither in its text nor in forms for the oaths for governor, magistrate 
and constable, which form its appendix, has the slightest reference to royal, parliamentary 
or propriet ny authorit)-. 

The towns are the fountains of political power. " There was no attempt to define 
the powers of the town," sa\s Johnston, "because the)' had all the powers which were 
not granted to the Commonwealth." The towns made the state, not the state the towns. 
Each town was to choose, annuall}', four deputies to the General Court, or Legislature. 
Kach year, on the seconil Thursday of April, there was to be "a court of election" to 
choose a governor and six magistrates. The six magistrates were the germ of the future 
senate of the Commonwealth. In case the six magistrates and the governor should 
attempt to exercise legislative functions without calling together the deputies of the 
towns (as had been attempted in Massachusetts), the constitution of Connecticut provided 
a way by which the Deputies of the towns should have power to meet and organize as a 
legislature, without the governor or the senate. 

"It was a system of complete jiopular control, of frecjuent elections by the people, 
and of minute local government." Well might the political historian of the state. Pro- 
fessor Alexander Johnston, declare, "The spirit of this constitution was the first breath 
of that atmosphere now so familiar to us." 

The system of complete local lil)crt)' with a limited but concentrated power undei 
which the Connecticut River towns had filled out their boundaries" — a system which had 
maintained "the substantial equalit)- of the townships in at least one branch of the gov- 
ernment" — "for a century and a half had been maintaining the rudimentary form of that 
mi.xture of the national and federal elements which are now united in our federal govern- 
ment and give to it its strength." 

In the Constitutional Convention of 1787, when there was no government of the 
United States, it was the efforts of the three representatives of Connecticut, and the suc- 
cessful example of this system as it had existed for a century and a half in Connecticut, 
that led the convention out of the dead-lock between the large states and the small states, 
and into the plan by which representation in the House of Representatives is in propor- 
tion to population, while in the Senate all states have an equal vote. The town-meeting 
system — the representative democracy with its bi-cameral check, recognizing the federal 
principle in the higher of the two legislative chambers with its equal vote for each feder- 
atetl unit, " has passed into a wider field than state life, and is the central principle of the 
greatest federal union the world has ever seen." It has had a world-wide success. 

And so, from our consideration of the local interests of the town, our thought goes 
out with love and patriotic fervor toward that Government which symbolizes the united 
life of the entire nation. May it always be true that the citizens who are trained to an 
interest in local affairs and to a share in local politics, in our town-meetings, by their love 
of what is just and right between inan and man in the political organization which is 
nearest them, and by their active participation in the duties of local self-government, may 
be led to a deeper interest in the affairs of the entire nation, to a stronger love for that 
union of the states in which is our national life, and to such a loyal regard for national 
justice and integrity as shall make our nation always a mighty power among those great- 
est personalities of the race, the national states of our time. 

155 



SemieCentennial Ode. 



ODE. 

BY ELLEN K. STEVENS. 

O, Queen of countless whirling wheels, 

Of busy heads and hands, 
Thy throne amid the circling hills, 

And verdant valleys stands! 
Thy fifty years of honest toil 

Have wrought thee fair renown; 
May future fifties only add 

New jewels to thy crown! 

Thy sons who nobly served and died 

To them we bare the head. 
We shed no tear, but hold them dear. 

Our roll of worthy dead. 
Some served thee well in ways of peace, 

And made thee fair and strong; 
And others gave their loyal lives 

To right a nation's wrong. 

O, Clinton, noble in the past, 

Be nobler yet today! 
Uphold the right, redress the wrong, 

March on thy destined way. 
A higher life is thine to live, 

A better, broader aim, 
So children's children shall arise 

To bless thine honored name. 



iS6 



THE PARADE. 

nPHE parade of Tuesday was the most attractive feature of the celebration. Early in 
'- the morning the people began to assemble on the streets. The steam railroads had 
given reduced rates and the incoming trains were crowded. Although the number of 
cars on the electric lines had been greatly increased, yet they could scarcely accommo- 
date their patrons. Hundreds of carriages of every variety, from the elegant equipage 
of the millionaire to the worn-out cart of the poverty-stricken farmer, brought a multi- 
tude from the neighboring towns. Bicyclists and pedestrians came by hundreds. Besides 
these, there were the guests who had come to enjoy the Semi-Centennial as a whole. 
Few of the inhabitants of Clinton failed to see the procession. It is impossible to esti- 
mate how many thousands were upon the streets, but it is certain that the number was 
largely in excess of any that had ever gathered in Clinton at any previous time. These 
many spectators, however, moved little from place to place, and were so distributed that 
there was no crowding at any particular point. 

The orderliness of this immense throng and the courtesy universally displayed gave 
most impressive evidence of the high character of our citizens and visitors. Indeed, 
through the celebration as a whole, although a large additional force of special police 
was on duty and a considerable number of the state police gave their services and several 
city detectives were employed, j'et the precautions seemed entirely unnecessary and the 
ofificers had nothing to do except to direct inquiring strangers. Even in this, every citi- 
zen was as eager to offer assistance as they. 

The hotels and restaurants had made all possible preparation for the day. Special 
accommodations had been provided at the skating rink for the serving of meals; lunch 
boxes were for sale; hospitality was dispensed with a free hand from many private houses; 
so all guests were abundantly satisfied according to their tastes. 

Arrangements had been made for the governor of the Commonwealth to come by 
the regular train over the Central Massachusetts Branch of the Boston and Maine Railroad. 
The reason for choosing this road was the desire that His Excellency should have an 
opportunity to see the work of the Metropolitan Water Board. As he arrived with three 
members of his staff. Congressman George W. Weymouth and others, just before ten 
o'clock, he was welcomed by the governor's salute of fifty guns. Accompanied by 
Wellington E. Parkhurst, chairman of the committee on the Reception of the Governor, 
the party passed along the new highway, where a fine outlook could be obtained of the 
basin being prepared for the great reservoir, and by the site of the proposed dam, to the 
Lancaster Mills Bridge. Here, Company K of the Ninth Regiment and the Salem Cadet 
Band were waiting, and they escorted the governor and his part)' to the head of the pro- 
cession. 

Meanwhile, organizations and individuals had been making ready for the parade. 
One after another, they had appeared at the appointed place of meeting and had been 
assigned to their positions by the marshal, George S. Gibson, his staff and aides, the mar- 
shals of the divisions and their subordinates. 

The marshal had made especial efforts to have a large number of mounted men in 
the parade and had succeeded so well that this was its most noticeable feature. As will 
be seen from the accompanying picture giving the head of the procession, the mounted 
police, the marshal with his staff and aides made a most imposing appearance. Eli 
Forbes, marshal of the First Division, with his staff and aides, followed. Then came 

'57 



The Parade. 

Governor Crane and other invited guests, and past and present town officials, in carriages, 
with Company K of the Ninth Regiment as their escort. At first in this part of the 
procession, and later at the reviewing stand were represented those four units of govern- 
ment of which we are citizens, the Nation, the State, the County and the Town. 

The nation was represented by Congressmen John R. Thaj'er and George W. Wey- 
mouth, who recalled the long line of statesmen who have served in the national coun- 
cils the successive congressional districts to which Clinton has belonged. Later, at the 
reviewing stand, Hon. Merrill E. Gates, Secretary of the Indian Commission, represented 
the Executive Department of our Nation. How Clinton has stood on the great questions 
affecting our country can be judged from the subjoined table.* 

The chief servants of the general government in Clinton have been the postmasters. 
The post-office was established in 1846, and was first kept in Kendall's Block where the 
Bank Block now stands. Horatio N. Bigelow was the first postmaster, but George H. 
Kendall and his clerk, John F. Caldwell, did the work. JohnT. Dame was commissioned 
as postmaster September 22, 1853. His office was in the Library Building. Enoch K. 
Gibbs received the office "April 6, 186 1, and served until 1870, when, on July II, he was 
succeeded by Charles M. Dinsmore. April 29, 1882, the post-office was removed to the 
Bank Block. Later postmasters have been: December 2, 1886, John McQuaid; January 



♦Presidential Vote of Clinton from 1850 to 1899. 



Republican 



Prohibition. 



Democrat 



Scattering . 



Totals 

Increase 

Increase per cent. 



Majorities 

Per cent, of total vote 

Pluralities 

Population 



1852 



£L 
Si ? 



200 82 



382 



Whig 
18 

4.7 
100 



1856 


i860 


1864 


1868 


1872 


1876 


1880 


1884 


1888 


1892 


•^ 


* 


» 


* 


* 


* 


* 


ca 


» 


X 


•-t 


r 


r 


c:i 





X 





p 


X 


f 


3 



3 


3 
n 



3 



1 
3 


3 


>< 
n 


-1 

3> 
Ok 


3 

at 


3. 

t/i 


2_ 

en" 





3 


3 














a 




y 




353 


346 


334 


44 


3 


52 


4 


5/ 


7 


r682 


603 

St. 
John 


871 


920 














Dow 


Fisk 


Bid- 














^ 7 


16 


50 


well 26 


c 



a CD 

: K 




n 


3 



ft 


H 

a> 


3 
n 


* 


n 

< 

n 


« 
n 

n 

< 


3- 
» 

3 

3 


n 
3 




J 
^ 




< 




3 



n 





3 
P. 


a 




(Ti 
























54 


71 7 


84 


107 


298 


482 


513 


683 


889 


941 


Un- 


Bell, 










Wea- 








ionist 


Pc. 










ver 


Butler 




Wing 12 


3 


II 










I 


42 




Weaver 
2 


410 


435 


418 


s=;o 


822 


I0S9 


1203 


1.371 


1810 


1901 


28 


25 




115 


272 


2^)7 


144 


1 68 


439 


91 


7-3 


6.1 




2i; 


4Q 


28 


13 


14 


32 


5 


Rep. 


Rep. 


Rep 


Rep 


Rep 


Rep 


Rep. 


Dem. 


Dem. 


Dem. 


296 


257 


2qO 


3,36 


226 


195 


161 


22 






72 


59 


60 


61 


27 


18 


13 


1.6 






299 


275 


2t;o 


^^b 


226 


195 


169 


80 


18 


21 




3«59 
















8039 









1896 



3 



1307 

Lovering 



o 



CO 
►1 

» 

3 



648 

Matchett 

73 
Palmer 53 

2089 

188 

9.9 
Rep. 

525 
25 

659 



Population in 1850, 3113; in 1855,3636; in 1865, 4021; in 1870, 5429; 
1890, 10,424; in 1895, '1.497- 

* Elected. 

158 



in 1875,6781; in 1885, 8945; '" 





COMPANY K NINTH REGIMENT. 

OFF TO THE WAR. 

AT CAMP DEWEY. 



The Parade. 

27, 1891, Henry A. Burdett; March i, 1895, Jo'"i W. McNamara; April i, 1899, Charles / / 
L. Stevens. On July i, 1899, the post-office was removed to the Bank Annex. // 

Many who saw Company K marching along so steadily thought of that morning two 
years before when amid music and cheers and sobbing farewells this same companj' set 
out to help defend the nation's honor and the liberty of man. Some of the same soldiers 
were still in the ranks, but how many were missing! To such as remembered that day 
the company seemed no longer simply a body of men performing escort duty, but, through 
consecration of its services and its losses, it had become a symbol of nationality like the 
flag that floated above it, a living type of patriotism. Only a few members of E. D. 
Baker Post 64, Grand Army of the Republic, followed the carriages, for many of them 
have ahead)' passed to a better world, and of those who remain, few were able to endure 
so long a march, on account of infirmities arising from hardships incurred in service or 
from increasing age. But, small as the remnant was, it brought to mind the struggle in 
which our Union was saved and our nation cemented together by the blood of patriots. 
For the glory of their record the pages of history must be consulted. The Sons of Vet- 
erans and the youthful Columbia Cadets gave promise that the nation could depend upon 
the sons of Clinton in the future no less than in the past. The predominance of the 
national colors in the decorations also showed that Clinton could not rejoice in her own 
anniversary without attesting her devotion to country. 

The chief magistrate of the Commonwealth, VVinthrop Murray Crane, rode in a 
barouche drawn by four coal-black horses. By his presence, the State of Massachusetts 
with, all that it stands for in the world's history. Pilgrims and Puritans, Concord Bridge 
and Bunker Hill, overthrow of slavery and defence of Union, manufactures and com- 
merce, education and religion, or to sum up all in a single phrase, enlightened, righteous, 
organized liberty, was paying a deserved honor to her most populous and not least worthy 
town. Clinton has had her fair share in the government of the state, and her representa- 
tives in the different departments of that government have been of such abilitj' and char- 
acter that their influence for good has been great.* Our militia companies have been 
primarily state organizations, and through them our town has served Massachusetts. 
The state has often recognized the high qualitj- of this service by its enconiums. An 
armory was built by the town for the use of Company K, 1895-7, ^^ a cost of about four- 
teen thousand dollars. 

*In the following list of the men who have served from Clintonville or Clinton in various state offices, 
the date given is that of service rather than that of the November election. R., signifies Republican; D., 
Democrat; W., Whig; A., American. 

Legislature, Lower House:— Ezra Sawyer, VV., 1848, 1849; Horatio N. Bigelow, W., 1851, 1852; Andrew 
L. Fuller.W.. 1854; James Ingalls, Native American Party, 1855; Horace Faulkner, Native American 1856, 
R. 1857, unanimous, R. 1858; Jonas E. Howe, D., i860, 1870, 1872, 1887; Rev. Jared M. Heard, R., 1862; 
Franklin Forbes, R., 1864, every vote except one; Rev. Charles M. Bowers, R., 1865, 1866; Charles W. 
Worcester, License D., 1868; Elisha Brimhall, R., 1871; Lucius Field, R., 1878, I882; Dr. Daniel B. Ingalls, 
R., 1880; Edward G. Stevens, R., 1881; Alfred A. Burditt, R., 1884; Jonathan Smith, R., 1886; Frank E. 
Holman, R., 1888, i88g; Wellington E. Parkhurst, R., 1890, 1S91, 1892, 1893; Charles G. Bancroft, R., 1894, 
1895: Walter F. Howard, R., 1896, 1897, 1898; S. Ives Wallace, R., 1899; David I. Walsh, D.. 1900. 

Senate: — Charles G. Stevens, R., 1862; Henry C. Greeley, R., 1870, 1871; EHsha Brimhall, R., 1876, 1877; 
Daniel B. Ingalls, R., 1881, 1882; Lucius Field, R., 1890. 

Governor's Council: — Henry C. Greeley, R., 1885, 1886. 

Governor's Staff and other departments: — Edward G. Stevens, R., 1876, 1877, 1878. John W. Corcoran, 
D., served as judge advocate general 1891, 1892; he resigned May, 1892, to accept position as associate 
justice of the Superior Court; he retired from this position November 22, 1893. In 1893, he was president 
of the Massachusetts Board of Managers of the World's Columbian Exposition. Henry C. Greeley is a 
trustee of the State Industrial School at Lancaster and the Lyman School at Westboro. Wellington E. 
Parkhurst is a trustee of the Sanatorium at Rutland. 

159 



The Parade. 

In the carriages that followed, Worcester County was represented by some of its 
officers, and the neighboring cities and towns, most of them within the county, were rep- 
resented by their mayors and the chairmen of their selectmen. Although there is less of 
patriotism felt for the County as a unit of political organization, than for the Nation, the 
State or the Town, yet our county, from the charm of its physical aspects and the close- 
ness of association which exists between Clinton and the adjoining district, touches more 
evidently upon the lives of our citizens. Clinton is especially bound to Lancaster, the 
mother town, by tics of relationship. Many of the people of these neighboring towns 
are connected by ties of kindred with the people of Clinton; some work in our mills and 
stores; some attend church here; some belong to Clinton societies; some send their chil- 
dren to our higher grades of schools; they are called here by matters connected with the 
district court and the bank; here they find a place for the disposal of the products of 
their farms and a source of supply for general merchandise. The people of Clinton find 
in the beauty of the neighboring towns a source of unalloyed delight. Clinton is associ- 
ated with the region about in political districts, both of the state and nation, and in various 
organizations, such as the hospital and Worcester East Fair. The Metropolitan Water 
Supply has given us many common interests; our own water supply and sewerage systems 
associate us with two of the neighboring towns, while in many matters of courts and roads 
the whole county acts as a unit.* 

The Town, as a unit, will be considered in connection with the Second Division, and 
therefore may be passed over here. 

The various fraternities were also placed in this division. Only a portion of these 
was represented, as the members appeared in many cases in other parts of the procession. 
The Irish, German, Scotch and English societies showed the composite nature of our 
population and called to mind the storied past of these lands from which so many of our 
citizens have derived the noble qualities which they are using so devotedly for the 
upbuilding of the land of their adoption. If space allowed, an analysis of the sources of 
our population with the investigation of the story of the immigration and subsequent 
advancement of its various elements and the means which they have used in these socie- 
ties and otherwise to keep alive the memories of the past and their intimacy with each 

Pluralities in Clinton on vote for governor, with year of service: — 



1851, w., 


68 


1861, R., 


267 


1871, R., 


95 


1881, R., 


165 


1891, D., 


197 


1852, w., 


74 


1862, R., 


166 


1872, D., 


64 


1882, R., 


141 


1892, D., 


,218 


1853, w., 


44 


1863, R., 


159 


1873, R., 


144 


1883. D., 


113 


1893, U., 


153 


1854, w., 


126 


1864, R., 


182 


1874, D., 


167 


1884, D., 


34 


1894, D., 


42 


1855. A., 


94 


1865, R., 


251 


1875, D., 


69 


1885, R., 


29 


1895, R., 


119 


1856, A., 


20 


1866, R., 


273 


1876, D., 


108 


1886, D., 


128 


1896, R., 


23 


1857, A., 


209 


1867, R., 


309 


1877, R.. 


76 


1887, D., 


199 


1897, R., 


699 


1858, R., 


142 


1868, R., 


102 


1878, R., 


24 


1888, D., 


163 


1898, R., 


455 


1859, R., 


178 


1869, R., 


300 


1879, R., 


29 


1889, D., 


72 


1899, R., 


217 


i860, R., 


148 


1870, R., 


123 


1880, D., 


35 


1890, D., 


122 


1900, R., 


16 



* Among the Clinton men acting as officers in the county or limited districts thereof, in connection 
with matters of law, may be mentioned: Dr. Preston Chamberlain and Joshua Thissell, who held court as 
justices of the peace; John T. Dame, who was made trial justice in May, 1858; Daniel H. Bemis, who was 
commissioned trial justice in 1864; Christopher C. Stone, who became trial justice May 4, 1871, associate 
justice in the Second District Court of Worcester County, established in 1874, and who has been for so 
many years the justice in the same court; Charles G. Stevens, who was the first justice of the Second Dis- 
trict court; Jonathan Smith and Edmund A. Evans, special justices; Frank E. Howard, clerk of the court; 
Enoch K. Gibbs, Abbott A. Jenkins, Thomas Murphy and Charles A. Bartlett, deputy sheriffs. There have 
also been notary publics, justices of the peace and other officers. 

160 



The Parade^ 

other, would be a most interesting study. The benevolent and social orders completed 
this portion of the procession, and by the significance of their floats, contributed one of 
its most interesting features. The history of these bodies cannot even be touched upon, 
for they are so many in number and their influence has been so great that volumes would 
be needed to tell their story. 

Especial attention was attracted by the "initiation goat" of Lancaster Lodge, Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, the bag-piper of the Scotch Orders, the gymnastic feats 
on the Turners' float, the ancient coach of the Pilgrim Fathers with the attendant Indians, 
and the float of the Ancient Order United Workmen, illustrating the blessings of insur- 
ance. 

The Second Division was made up of the various departments of the town govern- 
ment, and was under the marshalship of Charles Frazer. It was preceded by the local 
Turner Brass Band. As the School Department had devoted its energies to the parade 
of Monday, and as many departments of the town government were scarcely susceptible 
of pleasing presentation in such a procession, in all cases except that of the Police 
Department and Fire Department, we must look upon this part of the parade as sugges- 
tive, rather than complete. 

In order that the display of the Town may be considered together, the representa- 
tives of the Town officials past and present who rode in the First Division are referred 
to here. They were few in number compared with the long succession of citizens who 
have served the Town on its various boards, but they were of such a character as to sug- 
gest that through the whole fifty years of our history the ablest and best of our citizens 
have been glad to give their time and work to the service of the community.* 

The Town Hall, the home of our general town government, was built in 1871-3. 
Town meetings had previously been held in the Clinton House Hall, and at a still earlier 
time, in the vestry of the Congregational Church. The building committee consisted of 

♦Selectmen for Fifty Years. — Ezra Sawyer, 1850-1; Samuel Belyea, 1850, 1856; Edmund Harris, 
1850; Calvin Stanley, 1851; Oilman M. Palmer, 1851-4, 1856, 1868; Nelson Whitcomb, 1852; Alanson Chace, 
1852; Jonas E. Howe, 1853-4, 1858-9; Abel Rice, 1853-5; Josiah Alexander, 1855; Horace Faulkner, 1856, 
1858; David Wallace, 1857; Joshua Thissell, 1857-60; Gilbert Greene, 1857, i860; James F. Maynard, 1859- 
62; Charles W. Worcester, 1861-3, 1865-7, 1872; Philip L. Morgan, 1861-2, 1868; Elisha Brimhall, 1863-4, 
1873: Alfred A. Burditt, 1863-5; B. R. Smith, 1864; George S. Harris, 1865; Charles Bowman, 1866-7; Otis 
B. Bates, 1867; Charles L. Swan, 1868, 1875; Jonas E. Howe, i86g, 1877, 1879, 1883-6; George W. Symonds, 
1869-71; Charles H. Chace, 1869-71; Henry C. Greeley, 1870-1; Thomas A. McQuaid, 1872-4; George F. 
Howard, 1872; Christopher C. Stone, 1873-4, 1879-81; Achelaus C. Dakin, 1874, 1878; Eben S. Fuller, 1875; 
Charles C. Murdock, 1875; Samuel W. Tyler, 1876-7, 1882; Alex. Johnston, 1876; John Sheehan, 1876-7; Eli 
Forbes, 1878; Alonzo S. Davidson, 1878; Sidney T. Howard, 1879-81; James C. Parsons, 1880-2; George W. 
Morse, 1882-4, 1891-3; Henry N. Otterson, 1883-5; C.C.Cook, 1884-7; Anton Wiesman, 1884-5; William 
H. Nugent, 1885-90; P. J. Quinn, 1886-8; Herman Dietzman, 1886-8; C. A. Vickery, 1887-91; Milton Jewett, 
i888-go; Walter P. Bowers, 1889-91, 1895-7; Warren Goodale, 1889-91; William Hamilton, 1891-3; Perley 
P. Comey, 1892-4; Frank F. Wallace, 1892-5; Thomas H. O'Connor, 1892-4; Walter R. Dame, 1894-6; 
Horace H. Lowe, 1894-6, 1897-9; Martin Murphy, 2d, 1895-7 ; Henry Richter, 1896-8; Charles H. Shedd, 
1897-9; Philip J. Philbin, 1898-1900; Philip T. O'Brien, 1898-1900; William Rodger, [899-1900; Clarence 
H. Bowers, 1900; George Krauss, igoo. 

Town Clerks. — Albert S. Carleton, 1850-2; Charles S. Patten, res., 1853; Artemas E. Bigelow, 1853-9; 
Henry C. Greeley, 1860-9: W.E.Parkhurst, 1870-2, 1878-80; Lucius Field, 1873-7; Martin J. Costello, 1881-4; 
John F. Philbin, 1885-93; Samuel W. Tyler, 1894-1900. 

Treasurers.— Sidney Harris, 1850, 1855; Alfred Knight, 1851-4, 1856-65; Elisha Brimhall, 1866-70; 
Edwin N. Rice, 1871-4; Alfred A. Burditt, 1875; Wellington E. Parkhurst, 1876; Henry O. Sawyer, 1877; G. 
Walton Goss, 1878-88; Edward G. Stevens, 1888; Lucius Field, 1889; William F. Heagney, 1890-4; Wil- 
liam Hamilton, 1895; Joseph E. Harrity, 1896-8; Charles E. Shaw, 1899-1900. 

161 



The Parade. 

Franklin Forbes, Joshua Thissell and George M. Morse. The cost of the building was 
one hundred and six thousand eight hundred and forty-four dollars and sixty cents. It 
has one hall capable of seating twelve hundred; another with a seating capacity of four 
hundred; rooms for the Bigelow Free Public Library, and rooms for the various deuart- 
ments of town government. The accompanying pictures* give ample evidence of the dig- 
nity of its architecture. Some of the departments, such as the Schools, Police, Fire and 
Water Departments, now have special houses of their own; yet the number and needs of 
the other departments have so grown that the smaller hall must soon be divided into 
rooms for their use, or some other accommodations must be furnished. 

The Selectmen, besides having charge of the Town Hall, have the management of 
the armory, the parks, the Police Department, the street lights, the Pauper Department, 
etc. All of these, except the Pauper Department, may be better considered elsewhere. 
The poor farm was established in 185 1. It is west of Woodlawn Cemetery, and originally 
contained thirteen acres of land. The house which was first built cost less than three 
thousand dollars, but it has been added to and remodelled from time to time according 
to the needs of the department. The Metropolitan Water Works have added largely to 
the expense of the department, and caring for tramps makes no inconsiderable part of its 
labor. In 1899, from a total appropriation of ten thousand dollars, about two-thirds were 
spent for the outside poor, and about one-third at the almshouse. There was an expense 
for lunatics not considered under the Pauper Department of about four thousand dollars. 

The Police Department of the Town was well represented in the parade by the chief, 
Oren B. Bates, with a mounted force. This first appears as a special department of the 
Town in 1866. For some years after this, the work of the department was very light and 
the annual expenses were less than one thousand dollars. January 14, 1871, a lockup, the 
first one worthy of the name in town, was completed, at the fire engine house on Church 
Street. It had four cells. In 1883, th^ old bank building which had been bought the 
previous year was fitted up for a court room and police station. The ofifice of chief of 
police was established in 1884, and Abbott A. Jenkins, appointed. During the past year, 
this building has been so re-modelled, at an expense of sixty-one hundred dollars, as to 
better adapt it to our increasing population and the needs arising from the work upon the 
Metropolitan Water System. According to the report of 1900, there are now six regular 
patrolmen, nine Metropolitan officers paid for by the State, but acting under the chief 
of police, and twenty-eight reserve ofificers. The annual net cost of the force to the town, 
apart from building, during recent years has been about six thousand dollars. The order- 
liness of the community attests the efficiency of the force. 

Chief engineer, Horace H. Lowe, and the assistant engineers, rode in carriages at the 
head of the Fire Department. The eight companies followed according to the program. 
The noble horses, the excellent apparatus with its fresh paint and polished metal, and 
above all the bearing of the men themselves, made this portion of the display one of 
which the town might well be proud. Some, filled with the historic spirit, recalled the 
fifty years of effective service which the department, always changing yet ever the same, 
had rendered. 

There was a private company connected with the mills of Poignand & Plant in early 
times, and the mills under the control of the Bigelows had done something in this direc- 
tion. There had been considerable talk of raising a village company just before Clinton 
was set off from Lancaster. Indeed, the difficulties met with in organizing such a com- 

* See opposite pages 26 and 136. 

162 




THE CENTRAL FIRE STATION. 




THE ARMORY. 



THE BUILDING OF WATER DEPARTMENT. 



The Parade. 

pany under the auspices of the Town of Lancaster, was one of the causes of separation. 
At the second Clinton town meeting, held April 1 5, 1850, five hundred dollars were appro- 
priated for the organization of a fire department. August 5, of the same year, a thousand 
dollars more were appropriated for the purchase of a hand fire engine, which came to 
town in December. The Torrent Engine Company, Number i, was the first started, and 
the engine-house was built on the school-house lot on Church Street. It was March, 
185 1, before the requisite act of the legislature was passed for the legal establishment of 
the department. The first company was composed of some of the leading business and 
professional men of the town. They started in with great enthusiasm, but when the first 
fire occurred in the winter of 185 1-2, the box of the engine was found half full of ice, so 
the machine could not be used. The company was soon after reoi'ganized with only 
working members. In 1853, there was a fire at the comb-shops of Sidney Harris, with a 
loss of five thousand dollars. The first payment given for services was in the year 1854-5. 
For the first nine years, Franklin Forbes was the chief engin(jer. 

It was on June 17, 1853, that the Cataract Company was organized, and its hand 
engine came June 21. The Franklin Hook and Ladder Company was formed July 7, 
1858. Its headquarters and those of the Cataract Company were in the "Old Brick 
School-house" near the foot of Church Street. In 1866, an engine house was erected on 
the site of our present Central Station. The first steamer was bought in 1870, and the 
Clinton Steamer Company was organized September 3, 1870. In 1872, reservoirs were 
built on corner of Church and High Streets and on North High Street, and in 1879, on 
the Acre and on Burdett Hill. March, 1880, it was voted to locate a fire engine house 
on the Acre. 

The introduction of Wekepeke water in 1882 made a great change in our fire system 
and gave vastly better facilities for extinguishing fires. The use of the Cataract hand 
engine was given up and the Torrent hand engine was handed over to the Cataract Com- 
pany, which was then established on the Acre. The Torrent Hose Company had two 
light hand hose reels. A new hook and ladder truck took the place of the old Franklin 
truck the same year. In 1884, both hand engines were sold and a four-wheeled hose car- 
riage bought for the Cataract Company. In 1885, the Gamwell system of fire alarm was 
introduced. The first trial of this was on July 13. In 1888, a house was built on Beacon 
Street to accommodate Hose Company Number 3. This was afterwards known as the 
G. Walton Goss Hose Company. One of the Torrent Company hose carriages was given 
this company, while a new one was provided for the Torrent Company. 

From 1893 to 1898, Howard Brothers' barn was used by the Fire Department as a 
central station. In 1896, one thousand dollars was appropriated for a hose house on 
VVoodlawn Street, and the same sum for a hose house on Water Street. A new steamer 
was purchased in 1897 at a cost of thirty-eight hundred dollars. A central fire station on 
Church Street was completed at a cost of about fifteen thousand dollars, in 1898. This 
station in all its appointments will compare favorably with any in the State. The Fire 
Department moved into this station on Thanksgiving day. 

In three cases, death has resulted from fires in Clinton. September 5, 1854, David 
Haskell, a prominent merchant, was so burned by an explosion of a barrel of patent oil 
that he died the following day. February 5, 1858, in a fire at the O'Malley house in the 
California District, three persons were burned to death. The fire in the Brigham Block, 
April 12, 1875, caused the death of Mrs. George B. Dinsmore and Warren B. Burrell. 

The fire at the wire mill April 19, 1S93, ^^^^ t'l'^ most striking incident in the history 
of the department. The alarm was sounded at nine-ten a. m. The report states; "Almost 

163 



The Parade. 

as soon as the fire was discovered the immense tower used for painting and drying wire 
cloth was a sheet of flame." It was a wonderful sight, that great pillar of flame rising 
nearly three hundred feet in the air. The strong west wind scattered the still burning 
embers for a mile through the most thickly settled portion of the town, and the utmost 
precaution was needed to prevent a general conflagration. Aid was asked and received 
from the neighboring cities and towns. The greater portion of the wire mill was saved, 
and the fire was prevented from spreading to the other sections of the town by the noble 
efforts of the firemen. The loss was estimated at one hundred and forty thousand dollars, 
but the corporation was well insured and quickly rebuilt on a larger scale. 

The central portion of the town was seriously threatened by two other fires within 
the following year. November 2, 1893, at ten-forty p. m., an alarm was sounded for a fire 
at the barn of the Murphy Brothers. The work of the department in checking this fire 
was highly praised by the insurance inspectors. In regard to afire at Woodruff's Skating 
Rink, February 24, at two forty-five a. m., the report says: "This was the coldest morning 
of the winter with a strong west wind blowing, and only the pluck and persistence, with 
the determined stand taken by the firemen, when they looked more like icicles than men, 
saved the surrounding buildings." 

At three fifty-five p. m., December 4, 1899, an alarm was sounded for a fire at the 
Opera House. The fire started in the basement and found its way so quickly through 
the ventilating shafts that it was soon beyond hope of control. The wooden buildings 
adjoining the Opera House on the north and south, went with it. It was only by the 
remarkable efficiency of the Fire Department that the fire was kept from spreading much 
further. The loss was estimated at ninety-six thousand four hundred and seventy-eight 
dollars, but there was ample insurance, and most of the buildings have been already 
replaced. 

As was most appropriate, the Water Department followed the Fire Department in 
the procession. This was represented by two teams: one with an old well-sweep, sug- 
gesting former methods of obtaining water; the other, illustrative of the Wekepeke sys- 
tem and its appliances. 

The introduction of a water system arose from the urgent necessity of water for fire 
purposes. Calls were made by the Fire Department for action in this direction almost 
from the incorporation of the town. April 5, 1875, ^ committee was appointed to "take 
the water question into consideration." This committee consisted of Daniel B. Ingalls, 
Elisha Brimhall, John T. Dame, Christopher C. Stone and Martin Murphy. May 24, 1875, 
five hundred dollars was appropriated for preliminary surveys. November 22, 1875, the 
committee made a full report, including a report from Marshall M. Tidd, engineer. 

This report, after considering Washacum Pond, Clamshell Pond, Fitch's Pond, the 
Nashua River and Sandy Pond as possible sources of supply, recommended that water 
should be pumped from the latter into a reservoir to be built on Burdett Hill, after an 
appeal had been made to the legislature for authority to construct a water system for fire, 
domestic and other uses, and to borrow money to the amount of one hundred and twenty- 
five thousand dollars therefor. This authority was granted by an act approved April 4, 
1876, on condition that such action should be approved by two-thirds of the legal voters 
within three years. March 5, 1877, the same committee made a report on a system of 
sewerage, recommending that no immediate action be taken in this direction, as the exis- 
tence of a water system did not render a sewerage system necessary. There was not 
sufificient agreement among the voters of the town to secure the action necessary to intro- 
duce water under the act therefor within three years, but June 19, 1880, a committee con- 

164 








LOWER LYNDE'S RESERVOIR. 
WEKEPEKE WATER S'^STEM. 



The Parade. 

sisting of Messrs. Ingalls, Bigelow, Weeks, Brimhall and Greeley, was appointed to con- 
sider the introduction of water for fire purposes. A report was made November 13, 1880, 
and on the same date it was voted to petition the legislature for a renewal of the act of 
1876. This petition was granted by an act of approval February 4, 1881. April 2, 18S1, 
the entire committee reported in favor of introducing water for fire purposes, and ten 
thousand dollars were appropriated. April 23, 1881, it was voted to issue fifty-five thou- 
sand dollars in water bonds. Jonas E. Howe, John W. Corcoran and Samuel W. Tyler 
served as the first board of water commissioners. 

With Marshall M. Tidd as engineer, work was begun in the summer of 1881, on the 
Burdett Hill Reservoir, and on piping some of the streets. It was at first the intention 
to take water from Sandy Pond, but it was discovered that Wekepeke Brook in Sterling 
would furnish by gravity alone a sufficient supply of excellent water for all uses, and 
through an act of the legislature appproved February g, 1882, permission to take this 
stream was granted. March 6, 1882, the town voted to take water for fire and domestic 
purposes from Wekepeke Brook, and appropriated one hundred thousand dollars therefor. 
On January i, 1883, the Wekepeke water system was completed. 

March 27, 1884, an act was approved authorizing Clinton to furnish water to Lancas- 
ter or any corporation therein, and issue bonds to an amount not exceeding fifty thousand 
dollars. Authority has been given by the legislature to incur further indebtedness as 
follows: 1890, fifty thousand; 1892, one hundred thousand, for bringing water from 
Washacum; 1896, fifty thousand. This gives a total of four hundred and seventy-five 
thousand, or not including the hundred thousand of 1892, which was never borrowed as 
water has not been taken from Washacum Lake, three hundred and seventy-five thousand 
dollars. The actual amount of bonds issued is three hundred and fifty thousand. Thei'e 
was also a tax levy of twenty thousand, making a total cost of three hundred and seventy 
thousand dollars. To meet the indebtedness, there was in the sinking fund February i, 
1900, nearl)' one hundred thousand dollars. At the same date, Clinton owned some one 
hundred and twenty-three acres of land in Sterling and had laid over thirty-one miles of 
pipe. It is impossible in this brief account to give particulars in regard to water privi- 
leges secured, basins constructed in Sterling and other matters of detail, but these may 
be found in the annual town reports, especially in those of F"ebruar}-, 1897 and 1900.* 

In the water commissioners' report February i, 1900, from which many of the above 
facts have been gleaned, is found the following statement: "During the period that the 
department has been in operation the sum of four hundred twenty-five thousand four 
hundred thirt}-two dollars and twenty-nine cents ($425,432.29) has been collected from 
water rates and turned over to its treasurer. These figures, including those previously 
given, are the history of the inception, construction, growth and success of the Water 
Department. In completeness of construction, and in the quality of its appliances, it is 
second to none in the commonwealth. It is a matter of congratulation to the people of 
Clinton that it has been theirs to enjoy a quality of water rarely furnished to a munici- 
pality, and that it has come, through the laws of nature, in priceless abundance." 

After the death of Jonas E. Howe in 1892, the report of the water commissioners 
stated: "Jonas E. Howe was the father of the Clinton Water Works, the author of the 

*UsE OF Water. — 1898, 219,023,210 gals.; iSgg, 198,614,417 gals.; igoo, 235,397,200 gals. Services, 
1,624; meters, 770. Public hydrants, 168; private hydrants, 74; total on system, 242. 

Water Commissioners. — Jonas E. Howe, i88i-<)2; John W. Corcoran, 1881-1895, 1898-igoo; Samuel 
W.Tyler, 1881-2; G. Walton Goss, 1883-8; Horace A. Thissell, 1889-91; William H. Nugent, 1892; Walter 
R. Dame, 1892-4; Horace H. Lowe, 1893-6; Charles G. Bancroft, 1895-7; George S. Gibson, 1896-8; Perley 
P. Comey, 1897; William G. McGlinchey, 1898-99; Edward W. Burdett, 1899-1900; Albert S. Fuller, 1900, 

I6p 



* The Parade. 

present system and the designer of every addition and extension. He was a member 
and chairman of the Board from its creation till his death, during which time he super- 
vised the laying of every pipe in its lines and superintended the construction of every 
basin and structure that was made a parcel of its plant. He was devoted to the town and 
this department, and his fitting epitaph would be: ' Here lies the man who conceived and 
constructed the Clinton Water Works.' " 

It will be seen from the foregoing that John W. Corcoran has been a member of the 
Board during some eighteen years of its existence, and to him must be assigned some of 
the honor which he has so generously given to Mr. Howe, of securing popular sympathy 
for the system of organizing and directing it. 

The exhibit of the Road Department came next, with four teams with tools and 
implements for road building. With this was the superintendent, Loren B. Walker, who 
has for so many years had charge of our streets, and to whose practical knowledge of the 
art of road-making their excellence is largely due. As the Road Department has charge 
of the sewers, it may be well to note this system first. 

In early times, little attention was paid to sewerage here or elsewhere in small com- 
munities. As the village developed, the hills and the streams gave a natural drainage 
which, in connection with cess-pools, was for many years deemed sufificient for our needs. 
As has already been noted, the question of a sewerage system was referred to the com- 
mittee on the introduction of water and an adverse report was made March 5, 1877. A 
plan of surface drainage prepared by Phineas Ball, engineer, was adopted April 7, 1883. 
In 1884, the town voted not to petition the legislature for the right to build a sewer sys- 
tem, but August 31 of the following year, a committee was appointed to make such a 
petition. The right having been granted, March 7, 1887, the road commissioners were 
instructed to prepare sewer-system plans. It was May 6, 1889, before a plan of sewers 
made by Phineas Ball was adopted. During this year, an "intercepting sewer" was built 
from Union Street to the Nashua River, near the intersection of High and Allen Streets, 
at a cost of about twenty-two thousand dollars. An injunction was granted against enter- 
ing the sewerage into the river on account of the objections urged by Lancaster, but this 
was finally removed. The plan of sewer assessments by which abuttors pay the cost of 
construction apart from main sewer was adopted March 3, 1890. Year by year, the sewer 
system has been extended until now nearly all the thickly settled portion of the town has 
been connected. By January i, 1900, over sixteen miles of pipe had been laid. During 
a large part of the time since the sewer system was adopted, Martin J. Kane has been 
superintendent of construction. Through the desire of our people to take advantage of 
everything that will better their condition and the wise suggestions of the Board of 
Health, a large portion of the buildings in town have most thorough systems of plumbing. 

The taking of the water of the South Branch of the Nashua River by the Metropoli- 
tan Water Board required a new system of sewerage disposal. Such a system has been 
constructed by that board. In September, 1898, a contract was made for filter beds and 
appurtenances at a price of about twenty-one thousand dollars. These beds were built 
on a sand terrace in Lancaster, just beyond the bridge over the Nashua on the extension 
of High Street. The total area of these filter beds is twenty-three and one-half acres. 
These beds have been constructed according to the most approved plans and have thus 
far been successful in operation. The cost of the intercepting sewer, reservoir and pump- 
ing station foundation was about thirty-five thousand dollars. The superstructure of the 
pumping station and the pumping engine cost nearly twelve thousand dollars more. The 
pumping station is on the south side of the Nashua, near the High Street bridge, 

j6$ 





s. 



VL.. 



HADED 

:^a\CrREET5 








The Parade. 

The other precautions taken by the town in accordance with the laws of the state for 
the health of its citizens deserve notice in this connection. The first specialization of 
this branch of government may be said to have begun with the appointment of a town 
-' "'sician in 1883. The establishment of a Board of Health in 1885 carried this speciali- 
^ on still further. The appointment by the Board of Health of an inspector of plumb- 
ing' and general health officer in 1893 was another step in advance. The recent provisions 
n: . r the collection of garbage tends in the same direction. Through the action of 

thi /ard of Health and its agents, infectious diseases have been kept within more nar- 
row limits; many nuisances have been abated and many errors dangerous to health have 
been avoided, and through its suggestions many reforms have been inaugurated. Since 
1893, ^n inspector of milk, provisions, etc., has been appointed by the selectmen: thus 
another menace to the lives of our citizens has been removed. When we reflect that 
within the period of twenty years, pure water has been substituted throughout our com- 
munity for that of doubtful quality; a system of sewerage with plumbing, guarded by 
rigid laws, together with a careful system of garbage collection, has taken the place of a 
most careless disposal of sewerage and garbage; that much of our food as well as our water 
is subject to skilled inspection; that infectious diseases are controlled, and that free med- 
ical attendance is given to all who are unable to pay therefor, it seems marvellous that 
so much could have been done in so short a time. The Clinton Hospital, although it is 
not a municipal institution, deserves mention here as a supplement to those institutions 
for the public welfare which are under the auspices of the town. Nowhere can better 
nursing, better medical attendance, better surgical attention be secured than in this hospi- 
tal, and it is given without charge to all who are needy. 

Water Street, with Rigby Road as its continuation; South Meadow Road, only a 
small portion of which is within the present limits of Clinton; Main Street, and the old 
Boylston Road from the South Lancaster Common, were the only public thoroughfares in 
this community before 1838. In 1838, a road was built from Main Street to the Lancaster 
Mills site. In 1844, a road was built to Bolton; one from Harris Bridge to Berlin and 
Boylston in 1845, ^"^ another to Boylston by Sandy Pond two years later; another to 
Boylston was built from East Village. In 1848, a road was constructed from Lancaster 
Mills to the Harris comb-shops. Under the direction of Horatio N. Bigelow, John C. 
Hoadley made plans for a system of streets in the center of Clintonville, which were 
accepted by the town of Lancaster, July 29, 1848. This vote included Prospect, Church, 
Union, Nelson, School, High to Water, Walnut and Chestnut Streets. The present "Ber- 
lin Road" was built in 1852, the Sterling Road in 1853-4, the present "Boylston Road" 
in 1860-1. High Street extension was made through the Plain in 1870-2. Not a year 
has passed without the addition, the prolongation or the improvement of our streets. 
The first Board of Road Commissioners was chosen in 1873.* Before this time, the roads 
had been in charge of the selectmen. Our roads have been treated in a most scientific 
manner on account of this specialization, and are today justly esteemed equal to any in 
the Commonwealth. 

♦List of Road Commissioners.— Jonas E. Howe, 1873-8; Joshua Thissell, 1873-4; Henry N. Bige- 
low, 1873; Joli" ^- Rowell, 1874-6, 1881-3; Nathan Burdett, 1875-7; Anton Wiesman, 1877-9; Charles 
Frazer, 1878-80, 1899-1900; John Sheehan, 1879-81, 1883-6; William E. Fyfe, 1880-2; Eh Sawyer, 1882-4; 
Herman Dietzman, 1885-7; Henry McGown, 1885-6; Thomas O'Toole, 1887-8; Samuel Anderson, 1887-9; 
Henry W. Welch, 1884, 1888-90; Leonard H. Parker, 1889-gi; Charles C. Sanderson, 1890-2; Horatio Ball, 
1891-3, 1896-9; David H. Maynard, 1892-4, 1897-1900; Walter F. Howard, 1893-5; Martin Murphy, 1894-6; 
S. Ives Wallace, 1895-7; H. J. Brockelman, 1898-1900. 

167 (12) 



The Parade. 

The first concrete sidewalks were laid in 1875, ^""^ have been added to year by year, 
until they are found on all of our business and many of our residential streets. 

The first systematic lighting of the streets under the management of the town began 
in 1870, when some five hundred dollars were paid to the "Clinton Gas Light Company 
for posts, pipes, lanterns, labor, etc." Until 1887, gas was used. Electric arc and incan- 
descent lights have been used since that year. 

In 1893, the Clinton Street Railway, afterward known as Leominster and Clinton, 
was opened. In 1898, the Worcester and Clinton Street Railway began to run its cars, 
and in 1900, the Clinton and Hudson Railway was completed, so that today Clinton is 
connected with all towns to the north, south and southeast by electric lines which have 
secured franchises from the town. As we are connected by the Boston and Maine, and 
New York, New Haven and Hartford steam railroads with all points north, south and 
east, our facilities for communication are remarkably good. 

Until 1898, our shade-trees which add so much to the beauty of Clinton, were under 
the same management as the roads, but for the last two years they have received special 
care from a tree warden. As early as 1852, many of the trees in and about the Common 
and the adjacent streets were set out by the town, through the influence of Horatio N. 
Bigelow. Some of these trees, the elms and maples especially, have grown to great 
proportions and completely over-arch the streets and walks. From time to time, trees 
have been set out elsewhere until our town today stands preeminent for its tree-shaded 
streets. 

Our Central Park of four acres, the gift of Horatio N. Bigelow, accepted in 1852, 
with its magnificent fountain, given by John R. Foster in 1890, its charming landscape 
gardening, its perfect greensward, and above all, the trees to which each year of the past 
half century has added its store of beauty, was considered by all our Semi-Centennial 
visitors as the most pleasing of the material possessions which Clinton had to show. 
Franklin Park, the gift of Sidney Harris and Charles G. Stevens, is scarcely inferior in 
beauty, and has the advantage of a wonderful view, extending for a score of miles down 
the valley of the Nashua. Woodlawn Cemetery has been treated with equal care and 
good taste by the town, and our citizens have felt that no higher tribute could be paid to 
the dead than to add to the loveliness of their last resting place. 

We cannot leave this subject without a word upon the beauty of Clinton considered 
as a whole. We are peculiarly blessed by nature with a picturesque and diversified river 
valley, with broad terrace plains and lofty hills whence most charming views can be 
obtained. Under the auspices of the town, art has added to nature by the planting of 
trees, the laying out of parks and the construction of public buildings of architectural 
merit. The religious societies, the corporations and other organizations have done their 
part to help on the good work by the edifices which they have erected. Private citizens, 
have assisted by the good taste they have displayed in their business blocks, residences 
and grounds, and the care they have expended so lavishly upon them. It seemed to be 
the universal expression of our visitors that the beauty of Clinton was unsurpassed by that 
of any town they had seen. 

The public schools were represented in the procession by three floats: that of Grade 
IX was a colonial interior, the home of Prescott; that of the classes of 1901, 2 and 3 of 
the High School, dealt with scientific education, showing the goddess of science, her 
children, and the blessings she has brought to the world; that of the class of 1900 
dealt with classical education and presented a picture of the nine muses conferring a 
jvreath of laurej uppn the student. The Parochial School float, the sciejices and arts pay- 

m 




CHNTRAL PARK FOUNTAIN. 




CHNTKAL PARK. 



The Parade. 

ing homage to religion, was the most elaborate in the whole parade, and if space allowed 
would be worthy of a detailed description. 

This brief outline of the history of our municipal life which has been suggested by 
the display made in this parade and that of Monday, must not be closed without a com- 
prehensive glance at the development of Clinton as a whole. This can best be gained 
from a study of the statistics of its population, wealth and expenditures.* It will be 
seen from an examination of such statistics that Clinton has grown in population from 
three thousand one hundred and thirteen in 1850, to about thirteen thousand eight 



* Table of Valuation, Taxes, Rate of Taxation and number of Polls since the incorporation of the 
town m 1850: 



850 
851 
852 

853 
854 
855 
856 

857 
858 

859 
860 
861 
862 
863 
864 
865 
866. 
867 
868. 
869. 
870. 
871. 
872. 
873 ■ 
874. 
875- 
876. 

877 

878. 

879. 

880. 

881 

882. 

883. 

884. 

885. 

886. 

887- 

888. 

889. 

890- 

891- 

892. 

893- 

894- 

895- 

896. 

897- 
898. 
899. 





AMOUNT RAISED 


RATE OF 






BY TAXATION 


TAXATION 


POLLS 


$1,262,803 00 


S9.059 33 


$7 00 


575 


1,184,931 00 


10,660 88 


8 00 


593 


1,312,460 00 


11,307 50 


8 50 


577 


1,254,700 00 


22,320 94 


I7 00 


643 


1,558,840 00 


11,929 90 


7 00 


674 


1,607,990 00 


14.428 06 


7 70 


712 


1.736,823 00 


18,029 18 


9 70 


788 


1,766,181 00 


16,661 39 


8 80 


745 


1,655,723 00 


14,988 67 


8 20 


782 


1,610,051 00 


14,886 25 


8 50 


781 


1,690,692 00 


14,851 92 


8 00 


879 


1,722,532 00 


15.969 54 


8 50 


885 


1,686,242 00 


16,868 18 


9 00 


846 


1,715.653 00 


20,320 18 


ii 00 


724 


1,871,000 00 


22,115 00 


II 00 


767 


1,860,763 00 


27,776 68 


14 00 


863 


1,981,417 00 


29,735 28 


14 50 


1017 


2,144,063 00 


38,120 26 


16 80 


1050 


2,256,139 og 


44,275 64 


18 70 


1 140 


2,664,020 00 


38,542 67 


13 60 


II 56 


2,952,568 00 


49.942 34 


16 10 


1203 


3,045,670 00 


48,271 04 


15 00 


1251 


3,197,765 00 


58,965 14 


17 60 


1347 


3,237,186 00 


78.828 00 


23 50 


1402 


4,219,088 00 


77,016 04 


17 50 


1591 


4,340,919 00 


71.088 II 


16 00 


1614 


4,494.641 00 


83.951 03 


18 00 


1754 


4,198.576 00 


50.997 05 


12 00 


J 682 


4,260,318 00 


65,292 60 


14 50 


1759 


4,274,567 00 


58,541 53 


13 00 


1728 


4,444.937 00 


67,336 60 


14 30 


1887 


4,823,592 00 


78,396 66 


15 40 


2056 


4,907.472 00 


77.784 00 


15 00 


2122 


4,970,450 00 


81,384 27 


15 50 


2171 


5,125.543 00 


90,261 40 


1685 


1948 


5,143.726 00 


96,501 06 


18 00 


1957 


5,198,174 00 


97,588 13 


18 00 


2010 


5,366,074 00 


101,151 33 


18 00 


2281 


5,531,811 00 


104,6^6 60 


18 00 


2532 


5,841.435 00 


104,557 95 


17 00 


2626 


6,044,017 00 


101,029 01 


15 80 


2766 


6,258,940 00 


111,920 80 


17 00 


2747 


6,520,391 00 


136,120 32 


20 00 


2853 


6,789,051 00 


109,167 84 


15 20 


2987 


6,927,124 00 


121,017 83 


16 60 


3013 


7,035,987 00 


125,625 58 


17 00 


3006 


7,108,869 00 


151,173 58 


20 40 


3076 


7,148,067 00 


133.925 51 


17 80 


3336 


7,260,598 00 


139,217 99 


18 20 


3536 


7,469,363 00 


142,030 53 


18 00 


3791 



169 



The Parade. 

hundred in 1900. This growth has been steady, with no backward steps. While the 
growth in population has been fourfold, that in wealth has been almost sixfold, and 
apart from the corporations, yet more than this. Meanwhile, the amount raised by taxa- 
tion for the public good has increased twelvefold. It is hard to estimate the value of 
public property, but if the water works, the sewerage, the sinking fund, the public build- 
ings, the books, the furnishings, the apparatus, the horses, etc., be reckoned at cost prices, 
allowing for injury from use, if the land be estimated at a value equal to the market price 
of adjacent lots, if a price equal to land value and present price of construction be put 
upon the streets, the assets of Clinton as a municipality must be many hundred thousands 
in excess of its liabilities. In other words, we have been paying most liberally in taxes 
for permanent improvements, or investments as in the case of the water works, from 
which future citizens will derive as much benefit as we. All this will tend to make the 
future taxes in Clinton less in proportion to benefits enjoyed, than in towns where the 
assets are less in proportion to liabilities.* 

Warren Goodale was marshal of the Third Division of the parade. The Leominster 
Brass Band furnished music. This division represented our manufacturing and commer- 
cial industries. Inasmuch as the history of the development of manufacturing in this 
community has been so ably and as amply treated in the historical address and banquet 
speeches, there is no reason to discuss it here. In our mills lies the material basis of our 
town's prosperity. The four thousand or more operatives who work in them, support by 
their earnings all but a small fraction of our population, and it is their trade which makes 
the mercantile, the building and the professional industries possible. The three great 
corporations — the Lancaster Mills, the Bigelow Carpet Company and the Clinton Wire 
Cloth Company — have each invested so much capital in their plants that their permanent 

*The following appropriations for 1899 are in about the usual proportions. The extraordinary 
expenses, i. e. assessors's maps, notes and electric bell, would naturally be replaced by others in following 
years: — 



Paupers jSlo.ooo 00 

Lunatics 4,000 00 

Street lights 10.500 00 

Town Hall 2,500 00 

General expense 1 1,000 00 

Memorial Day 200 00 

Fire Department 11,500 00 

Police Department 7,800 00 

Library Dog tax and sum to equal 2,600 00 

Hydrants 5,010 00 

Cemetery 2,500 00 

Soldiers' relief 700 00 

Board of Health 500 00 

Abatement 1 ,200 00 

Schools 41,500 00 

Armory 500 00 

Central Park goo 00 



Amount brought up 8112,910 00 

Franklin Park 500 00 

Assessors' maps 1,000 00 

Streets and sidewalks 19,000 00 

Interest 6,500 00 

High Street extension note (2) 2,000 00 

General expense note 1,200 00 

Pauper note i ,000 00 

Steamer note 1,285 66 

Discount 7,000 00 

Electric bell for Fire Station 500 00 

County tax 8,146 oo 

State tax 3.975 00 



$165,016 66 
Estimated receipts 22,986 13 

Total tax levy $142,030 53 



Amount carried up $112,910 00 

Liabilities December 31, 1899. 

School-houses $14,600 00 

Other public buildings 27,400 00 

Water Works 347.ooo 00 

Sewerage Ti<iy> 00 

Highways and bridges 11.35° 0° 

Trust funds -- 4.038 00 

Other debts 14,557 00 

$492,695 00 

170 



The Parade. 

stay within our Hmits seems firmly assured, and their steady development in the past 
gives the promise of continued growth. The Clinton Worsted Company, under the direc- 
tion of William Rodger, has had phenomenal success. Year after year, additions have 
been made to its facilities, until now it may fairly claim a place among our greater indus- 
tries. The smaller concerns have plenty of profitable work and add their share to the 
sum total of our prosperity. 

All of the great manufacturing industries and many of the minor ones were repre- 
sented in the procession. The Lancaster Mills had a f^oat drawn b)' four horses. On 
this were two intersecting arches and a huge revolving globe made of varied patterns 
of ginghams arranged for color effects. On a belt about this globe was the inscription: 
"LANCASTER MILLS GINGHAM USED ROUND THE WORLD." The Bige- 
low Carpet Company had four floats. On the top of the first there was a living sheep. 
Below, arranged in the most artistic manner as the accompanying illustration shows, 
there was wool in the various stages of manufacture, from the fleece to the completed 
worsted. The second float showed the finished carpets. At the four corners there were 
rolls, while two art squares of beautiful designs, fully displayed, formed the sides. On 
the third were rolls of carpet with a pattern-cutting device and cards. The last float was 
bright with yellow yarns of different tints tastefully shading into each other. On this 
float were twelve young ladies dressed in white, with yellow sashes and parasols of such 
shades as to harmonize with the body of the float. The Clinton Wire Cloth Company 
had two floats. The first showed silver-finish netting, inclosing a hen-yard; the second, 
electrically welded wire, inclosing a sheep-pen. The Clinton Worsted Company had one 
of its looms in operation on its float, together with an attractive exhibit of its finished 
cloths. 

The floats of the Clinton Foundry Compan)', the Kejes Wagon Company, Calvin H. 
Hastings, carriage-maker, the blacksmiths and harness-makers, showed one or more of 
the operations in the respective industries, and the finished products. The huge horse- 
shoe of Parsons & Finan was especially noticeable. In Walter W. Wright's float the 
blacksmith wore an apron that had been worn in a trades procession at the coronation of 
Queen Victoria. 

In the commercial portion of the parade, certain branches of business, such as those 
of the grocers and provision dealers, were abundant!)' represented, while other important 
branches were entirely missing. Yet there were some seventy-five teams and floats, illus- 
trative of our commercial life. It would be invidious to pick out for special mention 
particular firms, when all made so good a display, and the program gives the list of 
entries on page i8 of this volume. As the story and present condition and spirit of our 
business interests has been presented in the banquet speeches of Henry C. Greeley and 
Warren Goodale, the reader who would appreciate this phase of Clinton life is referred 
to these speeches. In order to complete the idea, however, he should visit our stores 
and make a comparison between them and those of neighboring towns and cities. Such 
visits and comparisons would convince anyone that nowhere in Worcester County are the 
merchants more discriminating and tasteful in selecting goods, more shrewd in buying 
them, more enterprising in bringing them before the public, more honest and courteous 
in showing them, more anxious to satisfy the desires of customers, more ready to accept 
reasonable profits — in short, to hold such relations to their patrons that they shall have 
unfailing confidence in their ability, their integrity, and their recognition of the fact that 
the merchant no less than the clergyman, the physician or the teacher should^serve-his 
fellow men in the spirit of brotherly love. 

171 



The Parade. 

The reviewing stand had been erected on Church Street near the corner of Walnut, 
just north of the new grammar school house. Here, Governor W. Murray Crane reviewed 
the procession. With him on the stand were Adjutant-General Samuel Dalton, Surgeon- 
General Robert A. Blood, Major Charles A. Proctor, of his staff; Congressmen George 
W. Weymouth and John R. Thayer, Hon. Merrill E. Gates, Secretary of tlje Indian Com- 
mission, and Major James M. Ingalls, representing the United States; High Sheriff Rob- 
ert H. Chamberlain, County Treasurer Edward H. Brown, and Howard M. Lane, special 
County Commissioner, representing the county; many mayors of neighboring cities and 
chairmen of boards of selectmen in the surrounding towns, and Clinton officials, includ- 
ing members of the Semi-Centennial Committee. The guests were full of praise of the 
procession and the beauty of the streets through which it had passed, and the evidences 
of thrift everywhere manifest. 

There was a reception held at Bigelow Hall to the Governor and other invited guests 
immediately after the parade. A lunch was served by C. D. Cook & Son, caterers. This 
reception and lunch were informal, as the Governor was obliged to hasten away. The 
ofificers of the parade, many of whom were at the reception, received hearty congratula- 
tions on every hand for the remarkable success which had attended their efforts. 



172 



THE ATHLETIC SPORTS. 

' I 'HE athletic sports were held at the Clinton-Lancaster Driving Park, Tuesday after- 
••■ noon. These grounds have been developed by the Worcester East Agricultural 
Society for its autumn fairs. They offer many advantages for athletic sports and excel- 
lent facilities for observing them. Notwithstanding many were worn out by the parade 
of the morning, many were resting for the fireworks of the evening, and the "Historical, 
Literary and Musical Exercises" occurred at the same hour, several thousand people 
gathered to witness these events. Dr. Minot V. Bastian had direct charge of the meet, 
acting under the authority of the athletic committee. The Salem Cadet Band furnished 
music. 

The teams contesting in the events were: that of the St. John's T. A. & M. A. Society, 
which won the banner offered to the team gaining the greatest number of points; that 
of the Clinton High School Athletic Association, which stood second, and that of the 
Clinton Turn Verein. There were also a few entries of individuals unconnected with any 
society. Among the teams, the St. John's and Turn Verein excelled in field events, while 
the C. H. S., with its lighter team, won most of its points in the races. Souvenir prizes 
were given to each individual winner. 

The hundred yards' dash, which was the first event, was begun about two o'clock. 
There were four heats and a final heat, with the finish in the following order: 

First heat: Paul D. Howard, C. H. S.; John F. O'Toole, C. H. S.; John Gaughan, 
St. J. Time, ii 3-5 seconds. 

Second heat: Edward Bond, St. J.; William Rodger, C. H. S.; Charles H. Steven- 
son. Time, 11 4-5 seconds. 

Third heat: Anthony Grad}', C. H. S.; E. C. Coughlin, St. J. Time, 11 1-5 seconds. 

Fourth heat: George S. Howard, C. H. S.; J. E. Grady, St. J.; M. Wahl. Time, 
II 3-5 seconds. 

Final heat: Anthony Grady, C. H. S.; Edward Bond, St. J.; Paul D. Howard, C. H. 
S. Time, 10 4-5 seconds. 

Second event — Running broad jump. Entries: Ludwig Baer, John Trautner and F. 
C. Wahl, Turners; William Rodger, C. H. S.; S. T. Grady and M. F. Groden, St. John's. 
Won by M. F. Groden, i8j^ feet; John Trautner, 2d; Ludwig Baer, 3d. 

Third event — Putting 16-pound shot. Won by Herbert H. Parker, 42 ft. 8 in.; Ed- 
ward Matthews, 2d; P. J. Reilly, St. John's, 3d. 

Fourth event — Half-mile run. Entries: John Neubauer, Turners; P. H. Kelly, St. 
John's; Charles H. Stevenson. P. H. Kelly won; time, 2 min. 12 2-5 seconds. C. H. 
Stevenson, 2d. 

Fifth event — Half-mile bicycle race. Entries: C. F. Leighton; Gilman Miner; J. G. 
Rodger; Robert Finnic, C. H. S.; G. S. Harris. Won by C. F. Leighton; time, i minute 
19 1-5 seconds. Gilman Miner, 2d; J. G. Rodger, 3d. 

Fifth event — Running high jump. Entries: S. T. Grady and M. F. Groden, St. John's; 
John Baer, John Trautner and Fred C. Wahl, Turners. Won by M. F. Groden, 5 ft. I in.; 
S. T. Grady, 2d; John Baer, 3d. 

173 



The Athletic Sports. 

Sixth event— 220 yards dash. There were four heats and a final heat, with the finish 
in following order : 

First heat: P. J. Kelly, St. John's; Paul D. Howard, C. H. S. 

Second heat: Edward Bond, St. John's; John F O'Toole, C. H. S.; John Gaughan, 
St. John's. 

Third heat: George S. Howard, C. H. S. 

Fourth heat: Anthony Grady, C. H. S. 

Final heat: Paul D. Howard, C. H. S., time 25 2-5 seconds; Anthony Grady, C. H. S.; 

Edward Bond. 

Seventh event— One-mile bicycle race. Entries: Robert Finnie, George S. Harris, 
C. H. S.; John G. Rodger; Gilman Miner. Won by Robert Finnie, C. H. S., time 44-5 
minutes. Gilman Miner, 2d; George S. Harris, 3d. 

Eighth event — Half-mile relay race between St. John's and C. H. S., won by latter. 
Run as follows: First lap, Anthony Grady, C. H. S., and P. J. Kelly, St. John's; second 
lap, William Rodger, C. H. S., and J. Grady, St. John's; third lap, Paul D. Howard, C. H. 
S., and M. J. Groden, St. John's. 

Ninth event — Pole vault. Entries: John Baer, John Trautner, Turners; S. T. Grady, 
M. F. Groden, St. John's; F. A. Stewart. Won by S. T. Grady, 9 feet; John Baer, 2d; F. 
A. Stewart, 3d. 

Points Won by Contesting Teams.* 

St. John's. C. H. S. Turners. 

100 yards dash 3 5 

Running broad jump 5 ~ 4 

Putting 16-pound shot I - - 

Half-mile run S ~ ~ 

Half-mile bicycle race - - - 

Running high jump S - I 

220 yards dash i 8 

One-mile bicycle race - 6 - 

Half-mile relay race 3 5 

Pole vault 6-3 



32 



24 



*The Item account of the athletic sports, which was endorsed by Dr. Minot V. Bastian as correct, has 
been taken as the basis of the foregoing report. 



174 




■HH CLINTON-LANCASTER DRIVING PARK 
WORCESTER EAST FAIR. 




THE FIREWORKS. 

CONSIDERABLE difficulty was experienced in choosing and securing a place for 
the fireworks. An ideal location would have been one which was near to the center 
of the town, free from danger in setting fire or causing injuries from rocket sticks, so ele- 
vated that the spectators could be near at hand on a lower level. A location on the 
northern slope of Burdett Hill was regarded as unsafe, and it was not found practicable 
to make arrangements for one on the bluff above Currier's Flats. A field at the corner 
of Greeley Avenue and Highland Street, on the southeastern edge of the terrace plain, 
was selected, but was abandoned at the last moment because there were patients in the 
Clinton Hospital whose condition was such that they ought not to be exposed to the 
excitement which might come from having the fireworks close by. 

It was finally decided to have the exhibition on the Base Ball Grounds off North 
High Street. As regards nearness and safety the location was excellent, but the set 
pieces could have been seen to better advantage if they had been on ground more ele- 
vated above the spectators. This disadvantage was in part remedied by raising them on 
artificial supports. 

Before sunset, the crowd began to gather, and long before the display began the 
open space on the grounds, the surrounding fields and streets and hills were packed with 
an eager but good-natured multitude of many thousands. It seems strange that in so 
great a mass of humanity, especially when so many horses and carriages were crowded 
together, there was no accident of any kind. 

Promptly upon the hour the fireworks began, and without the slightest break, the 
attention of the spectators was closely held to the end by the magnificent and ever vary- 
ing pyrotechnic display. The absence of the long spells of waiting, which usually detract 
so much from such an exhibition, the abundance and the quality of the supply, the good 
taste shown in the selection and arrangement of the pieces, the unerring skill with which 
they were set off and the great number of special devices, some of them of local signifi- 
cance, united to make this display far above any ever before seen in Clinton. The suc- 
cessive novelties filled the spectators with curiosity and surprise, and the dazzling cor- 
uscations of light and gorgeous combinations of colors by which the sky was constantly 
illumined elicited from the spectators exclamations of astonishment and delight. 

Among the devices the Falls of Niagara was the most splendid, the performing ele- 
phant the most ludicrous, the grist-mill of John Prescott in full operation, the portrait of 
Horatio N. Bigelow and the town seal the most characteristic of the occasion. When 
the last sparks of the final "Good-night" expired, the Semi-Centennial Celebration was 
over and the tired, but satisfied crowd, made its way slowly homeward. 



m 



CLOSING REFLECTIONS. 

'T^ID it pa}- to have a Semi-Centennial Celebration? If we consider the cost to the munic- 
*~^ ipality alone, looking at the matter from the lowest point of view, we may sa}- that 
it provided a series of musical, literarj- and spectacular entertainments lasting through 
three days for its fourteen thousand inhabitants at a cost of about thirty-six cents per 
capita, and at the same time offered its hospitality to its former citizens and the people 
of neighboring towns and cities. 

Clinton received a large amount of advertisement through the newspapers and was 
able to display its advantages as a place of residence and trade to many visiting strangers. 

Many of the features of the jubilee had an educational value along general lines. 
Musical, literary and especially historic culture came from it. Our people seldom have 
the chance to hear such music as was given so abundantly by the Salem Cadet Band and 
members of the Symphony Orchestra. A perusal of the sermons, speeches and addresses 
contained in this volume will convince the reader of their literary value. Most of the 
people of Clinton knew something more of general history and much more of local his- 
tory after the celebration, than they did before it. 

The celebration tended to bring some of our citizens who are seldom in the habit of 
acting in sympath}- with each other into closer relations, and such a gathering as the ban- 
quet revealed the fact that those who are most divergent in creed, politics and social 
ideals still have broad, common grounds of union. 

The chief value of our recognition of the Semi-Centennial of Clinton is to be found 
in the tendency of such a recognition to foster the spirit of local patriotism. It is impos- 
sible to measure the development this spirit may have received from this celebration, but 
it is surely not too much to say that many of our mature citizens were for the time being 
at least, lifted out of their absorption in selfish pursuits and had higher ideals of their rela- 
tions to the town and a strong desire to strive toward those ideals; and the young, as 
they heard the story of our early days, received impressions which will have a lasting 
influence in helping them to become the worthy successors of those whom the town 
delighted to honor. 



H 46 78'^1 



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